With Sword in Hand
by BewareTheDragon1
Summary: Finn's life sucks. He has no friends, a paralyzed right hand, and the worst luck when it comes to foot placement. But the worst part is that despite having Pokémon training in his blood, he can't befriend a single Pokémon. It's been four years since his tenth birthday, and though he doesn't know it yet, he's about to go on an adventure; with sword in hand.
1. Don't Let those Gray Skies get you Down

If you were an optimist, you would look at this scene with observant eyes. Noting the nice shady trees, the sun in the sky, the birds singing, and the fact that this would be the day for someone to start an adventure.

If you were a pessimist you would note other things. The storm clouds on the horizon, waiting to come in and rain lighting and water down upon an unsuspecting pedestrian. The shady characters hiding in the alleyways, just waiting to jump out and mug someone. The alarm clock beeping loudly, proclaiming that one particular person was not up in time to start his adventure.

And the fact that he couldn't even remember the amount of times he had gone out to try and become a Pokémon trainer.

Fortunately for Finn, he had the former view.

He would have gone insane otherwise.

With a mildly irritated groan, Finnegan turned over and slapped the alarm clock with his left hand, shutting it off.

Finn pulled himself off of his bed, pulling off his nightclothes along the way. He picked a T-shirt out, one with a simplified Aegislash emblem, and tugged it over his head. Sighing, he reached under his shirt with his left hand and pushed his right hand through the sleeve. Some days he got lucky and managed to slip his hand through on the first try, but today was not one of those days.

After tugging on some new underwear and a pair of cargo shorts, Finn grabbed his things from his bedside table. Pokédex? Check. Phone? Check. Medicine? …Check. Reluctantly.

As soon as he grabbed his gear, Finn slipped his socks and shoes on. It was still a bit difficult to tie his sneakers with one hand, but he had gotten used to it. It was just his hand at least. He was fortunate that his right elbow and shoulder were usable.

Because Finnegan had been born with his right hand paralyzed, people often assumed that he was crippled. If they saw him in action, that analysis often made a complete 180. His left hand was dexterous and strong, while he could still utilize his elbow and forearm to hold things down. There was another condition he was born with, which was why he had medication, but that was something he didn't tell people.

Checking the time, Finnegan cursed under his breath. He had to leave now in order to get to Professor Aspen on time. It wouldn't be the first time he was late, but he still didn't want to be. Not to mention that he had to bring a large supply of Pokémon support items home. Professor Aspen supplied his mother in her endeavors as a gym leader, being the supply that the Ferris family relied on for potions, ethers, stat boosters, and occasionally rarer objects such as evolution items and 'passive' items that had a less flashy effect on battles.

After all, the whole world was built around battles with strange and often unexplainable creatures known as Pokémon. Two or more opposing people, known as trainers, would capture and raise Pokémon to reach their best potential. When two trainers locked eyes, it was an unspoken challenge to battle. At least, in some places. Within cities such as Bluebell City or other populated areas, trainers were forbidden to battle outside of carefully regulated environments. Pokémon, though wonderful creatures, could be quite dangerous.

This didn't stop every ten year old in the entire world from wanting to be a Pokémon trainer.

And in order to accompany this wish and to further the unique symbiosis between trainers and Pokémon, many scientists specialized in breeding and researching some of the more popular Pokémon. Generally each professor had a different specialty, specializing in three species; these three were always in the same triangle, being grass, fire, and water. Certain Pokémon were known as 'starters', and they were the ones that were recommended to be handed out to new trainers, and they always had one of the three types in the triangle. Strangely enough, any professor who bred Pokémon for new trainers always stuck to a specific trio, such as Charmander, Bulbasaur, or Squirtle; for another example, there was also Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott.

Finn's knowledge of starter Pokémon was rather in-depth for someone who wasn't a professional, but it wasn't much of a surprise when you brought into account that he was almost fourteen.

He had been trying since he was ten.

For almost any other person, the inability to become a trainer was probably due to laziness, or procrastination. Finn was the sort to procrastinate, and he was infamously lazy to his mother, but Pokémon were something that he had a passion for.

As he jogged along, Finn thought back on the first time he had gone out to do this. He had been so excited that he forgot to tie his shoes, leading to him falling into the ditch that lined the road out of the city. Fortunately, that time he had left bright and early, meaning that the only real problem with this was the scratches he had received from the bush he fell into.

When he eventually got to the lab, Professor Aspen had presented him with the Pokémon he had requested when he was little, being a Torchic. He had always laughed and said he wanted a Torchic so that he could, in his own words 'Stomp Mom's gym!'. Unfortunately, the Torchic hadn't liked him much. In fact, it had flat out run away when it was brought out to meet him. Finn didn't want to force a Pokémon to like him, so he had left, dejected though he was.

The situation had repeated itself for several months, before Professor Aspen decided to try other kinds of Pokémon.

They had tried the Hoenn 'starter' Pokémon multiple times, bringing in a different trio each time. And each time, the Pokémon avoided him. A full year passed before they changed tactics, bringing in starters from other regions. Unova, Kalos, Kanto, Johto, and even Sinnoh starters had been imported just for him to try. That took another full year.

This year Professor Aspen and his mother were trying unconventional starters. It had started with an Eevee, then a Nidoran, then a Pichu. Before Finn knew it, he had been introduced to almost every Pokémon that could evolve into multiple forms. From Wurmple with its branching evolution, to three-stage Pokémon like Elekid.

The result every single time was the same. The Pokémon would either attack him, run, or try to hide. Regardless of the differences in reaction, they were all scared of him.

And Finn couldn't figure out why for the life of him.

He had tried different deodorants in case that was the problem. It had no effect.

He had tried different colored clothes. It had no effect.

He had even tried bringing some of his peers along to see if the Pokémon just didn't want to be lonely. That still had absolutely no effect.

Finn was coming to the conclusion that Pokémon just didn't like him.

Finnegan Ferris, son of a world famous Pokémon breeder and the steel type gym leader, was incapable of befriending a Pokémon.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. He had befriended a Pokémon in the past, although that one had been a gift from his father. Due to his family's connections, he had grown up around Pokémon, although only one had ever truly bonded with him.

Unfortunately, that one was no longer available.

And things were only going to get worse.

See, Finn was almost fourteen now. In fact, his birthday was only a couple months away. Professor Aspen may have approved of Finn's enthusiasm for Pokémon and his dedication to studying them, but there was only so far she could go before she eventually had to put an end to their attempts to locate a Pokémon for him. This was his last possible opportunity.

There were multiple reasons for this. Not just because of the fact that he had been trying for the past four years without success, but also because of the bonding factor.

Pokéballs acted as an extension of a trainer's will. When the Pokémon inside the ball was happy to work with the trainer, the battle capability of both increased by an incredible amount. The younger the trainer was when they met their first Pokémon, the greater the bond between the two was, and thus the better they could battle. This was why most trainers started at age ten, so that they were old enough to take care of themselves, while still being able to bond with their Pokémon.

Of course, this principle wasn't entirely sound. Some adults who got Pokémon were better trainers than people who had been with their Pokémon their whole lives. Then there were people who abused the fact that the Pokéball was an extension of their will, forcing Pokémon to do things that the Pokémon would not otherwise do. Thankfully, the only way to increase the control a trainer had over their Pokémon was either by bonding or by collecting gym badges. The gym badges were a failsafe of sorts; if a trainer was good enough to get the badge, they deserve the increased control over any stubborn Pokémon they catch.

Finn had always thought it was cruel to force a Pokémon into battle. Most of them were at least as intelligent as humans, and some were more intelligent than your average human. That wasn't to say that he disproved of battling altogether; Pokémon entered battles of their own in the wild as a way to prove superiority, having a trainer involved only made Pokémon battles more intricate. In fact, Finn loved Pokémon battles, provided that they didn't result in permanent injury.

But Finn's mindset was the reason he didn't have a Pokémon yet. He wasn't willing to force a Pokémon to do anything for him, be it battling or just spending time with him.

He cut off his thoughts as Professor Aspen's home came into view. It was a large circular building, with a glass domed roof. A high fence ran from the sides around the back, enclosing the large yard that Professor Aspen had most of her lab Pokémon in. Pokémon such as starters, her own personal Pokémon, and the Pokémon that others had sent in for her to take care of. It was also where Finn's father got some of his breeding stock, as some trainers sent rare Pokémon back to Professor Aspen. He always asked permission of the trainer first, of course.

With a sigh, Finn walked up to the glass sliding doors, taking note of his reflection. His black hair was an absolute mess today, but that wasn't a big deal; his hair was always a mess. His hazel-green eyes had barely noticeable bags under them, probably just the fact that he had stayed up way too late last night. Finn knew he wasn't the most athletic person, but he did at least keep himself in shape. That, along with his average height, not to mention his paralyzed right hand, led to people underestimating him.

He shook his head and went inside.

"Roserade!"

Finn smiled and looked at the Roserade that had greeted him. Nero was one of Professor Aspen's Pokémon, her personal favorite in fact. He had been the first Pokémon the Professor caught, and he helped her out to this day. "Hey Nero. Are the Pokémon ready?"

The white haired little plant nodded. Roserade weren't very tall, though they weren't the smallest Pokémon either. With his bouquet hands, one would think that the Roserade was hindered. They would be wrong. Nero, like all Roserade, had vines hidden in his bouquets. These vines were just as useful as hands, while also being usable for Pokémon attacks.

"Rade!" Nero prodded, poking the side of Finn's leg.

"Right, right. Sorry. Just thinking." Finn apologized, following Nero to the laboratory. Pokémon didn't make unintelligible noises like some mythical creatures he had heard of, but neither did they speak the same language as humans. Instead they spoke using parts or the whole of their species names. It was strange, but it was the norm.

The human and Pokémon entered the lab, Finn looking at the strange machines. He had been here so many times that he knew what everything did. There was the trading machine that officially transferred ownership of Pokémon. There the incubator that the Professor used to hatch the starter eggs that she handed out to new trainers. Then there was the receiver that people could send Pokémon to using the PCs in Pokémon centers.

Professor Aspen was standing at a computer, typing things in. She was a fairly athletic woman, being lithe and thin; though she was shorter than Finn. Her brown hair was done back in a ponytail like usual, and she was wearing her lab coat over a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Off to her right was Sera the Gothitelle. Sera didn't like Finn much, and she made it very evident by the way she flat out refused to acknowledge him. He knew that she could use telepathy to speak with humans, but only because Professor Aspen sometimes carried out conversations with the Gothitelle, despite the Pokémon never making any verbal noises.

When Finn entered the room Professor Aspen turned around. "Hello Finn, are you ready to try again?"

"Yeah." Finn answered listlessly.

"I know this is getting harder every time, but don't worry about it." Aspen soothed. "Just do your best, and be yourself. You're great with Pokémon."

Sera snorted at that, causing Nero to walk over and start arguing with her. Apparently the two often disagreed on things, but this was the most he had ever seen them fight. Nero was adamant that Finn would be a good trainer, while Sera hated him for no apparent reason.

"Calm down you two." The Professor scolded. "Now then, I've got another set of three for you today. They're all psychics, so be careful not to let your mood influence them."

"Gotcha." Finn replied with a nod.

"Alright then, here they are." Aspen picked up a Pokéball case designed to hold three Pokémon. She slid the case open and tapped the button on the front of each ball, releasing the Pokémon inside.

The first was a yellow creature that had its eyes closed. It seemed to be sleeping. The second was a strange little creature with green hair covering its eyes and a red horn on top of its head. The last was floating, an orb of what looked like jelly with a small creature in the center.

"Meet Abra, Ralts, and Solosis." Aspen introduced. "These three aren't very common in this area, and I had to call in a favor with Professor Juniper to get the Solosis. Here's hoping that you can bond with one of them."

Finn slowly walked over to the Abra and stretched his hand out. Despite the relative rarity of Abra, many people knew that they were shy Pokémon with a tendency to teleport away at the first sign of danger. The Abra slowly opened its eyes, then peeped and vanished.

Professor Aspen sighed. "Sera, would you go and locate the Abra please?"

The Gothitelle nodded and floated off, tracking the psychic signature of the Abra. Gothitelles couldn't teleport like Abra, but that didn't stop the psychics from being powerful nonetheless.

Sighing, Finn moved over to the Ralts. It moved forwards towards him curiously at first, tilting its head. Then, suddenly, it cried out and stumbled away, obviously scared of him for some reason.

When he tried to interact with the Solosis, it just closed its eyes and backed away, shaking lightly the whole time.

Sera returned with the Abra in hand at that point, scratching gently behind the small creature's ears. She glared at Finn before putting the Pokémon on the ground next to the Ralts.

Professor Aspen sighed and recalled all three of the small Pokémon. "Well, the Ralts's reaction was better than most previous ones, but…"

"Still a unanimous rejection." Finn commented, dejected. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his Pokédex. "Remember when you first gave this to me?"

"You were so excited." Aspen replied, smiling.

"I so badly wanted to be a Pokémon trainer. But now I can't even do that." Finn said with a sigh.

Aspen opened her mouth to speak, then narrowed her eyes at Sera. "Sera! He has done nothing but try to befriend Pokémon and here you are badmouthing him. Apologize!"

The Gothitelle sighed heavily and turned towards Finn. "Gothitelle."

"Sera…"

Sera sighed again. _"I apologize for my behavior."_

"Well…" Finn muttered, scratching the back of his head. "It's better than being ignored like usual."

 _"Don't get used to it."_

"I probably won't be able to." Finn replied, looking back down at the Pokédex in his hand. "Here I am. My dad's a famous Pokémon breeder while my mom's a gym leader; their son's a crippled disgrace. I won't need this anymore."

Finn reached out to hand the Pokédex to Professor Aspen. She took it for a moment, then shook her head, handing it back. "You might still need this."

"Why would I need a Pokédex I can't use?" Finn asked, confused.

"Well, I've always talked about needing a lab assistant, and what use would a lab assistant be if they didn't have access to a repertoire of Pokémon knowledge?" Aspen countered with another question.

"Wait, you're asking me to be your lab assistant? You do know about…" Finn trailed off, not wanting to talk any more.

"Yes, I do want you to be my lab assistant. You are dedicated and enthusiastic." She confirmed. "As for your condition, I was the one who diagnosed you in the first place."

"I… I'll think about it." Finn replied, staring down at the device in his hand. He hadn't expected to walk out with it still in hand. He tucked it back into his pocket and blinked a bit, trying to think. "Oh, I was supposed to bring some things back home for Mom."

"Oh yes, they're right here." Professor Aspen walked over to the counter her computer was on and picked up a paper bag. "We've had to put it in a less… conspicuous container. There are bad people who would kill to have some of these things."

"What exactly is it?" Finn asked, taking the bag from her. It wasn't overly heavy, but he knew that most people wouldn't just use one hand to carry it.

"Razor fangs, king's rocks, metal coats, and a mega stone, if Sycamore wasn't joking." Aspen answered. "Along with potions, ethers, berries, and status cures."

Finn whistled in appreciation. "Dang. That's an impressive collection of items."

"Yes, and that's why I'm trusting you with them." Aspen said with a smile. "Do you want me to send Nero back with you? He enjoys your company."

"Roserade!" Nero confirmed, smiling.

"No thanks. I'll be fine." Finn replied, shaking his head. He knew that Aspen was trying to give him protection, but he didn't feel like he needed it.

Waving goodbye, Finn walked outside and took a deep breath before letting it go in a sigh. He walked away from the one place he thought he would find his first Pokémon.

He never realized he was about to start on the journey of a lifetime.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's the first chapter of my first Poké** **mon fan fiction. If you're wondering what's going to happen next, read on!**

 **...Once I get chapter 2 out, anyways.**

 **Before you all ask, this is set in an as yet unspecified region that is not one of the primary six seen in the games/manga/anime. It has different populations, different gyms, different people, the whole thing.**

 **Please, leave a review and let me know what you liked and what you think I should do better.**


	2. Miracles

When something amazing happens, do you call it fate?

Do you thank God? Do you think that some greater hand is guiding your actions? Maybe you call it luck or coincidence.

By the same token, when something absolutely horrible happens, do you still call it fate?

Do you curse some higher power? Do you ask God why this happened? Or maybe it's just bad luck, or a horrible accident.

What about when, by a series of strange events, a life is saved? Generally it's called nothing short of miraculous. When someone who should be dead isn't due to strange circumstance.

Again, by the same token, what about when a series of strange events leads to a horrible occurrence? The death of someone who should be alive if those strange events hadn't occurred. What's that called?

On one hand you have strange things leading to a life being saved, while on the other you have a life ending due to these strange things happening. If the former is called a miracle, what do you call the latter?

Why, that's another kind of miracle.

And Finn had too much experience with the second kind of miracle.

Which was why, as he went home, he had his mind on the misfortune that his life had been.

When he was first born, the first Pokémon he had ever seen was a massive blue-green behemoth with silver claws. Its red eyes had stared down at him first in curiosity, then in fear. As a very young child he hadn't understood why his mother's Metagross ran away from him, and only after she had scolded it had it ever spent more than a few fleeting moments in his presence. After that it was his best friend. True, he was only a newborn when he first saw it, and he hadn't even been a year old when the Metagross had finally bonded with him; but that didn't stop him from loving the Metagross with all his heart.

When his mother eventually retired the old Metagross, it became the family pet, of sorts. She obtained a new Beldum to raise up to similar status as the old Metagross, naming the Beldum Xollen. Finn didn't know it at the time, but the reason the old Metagross was retired was because of a rare form of Pokémon arthritis that heavily afflicted steel types. It was so bad that the poor Pokémon's joints rusted, leaving it largely immobile.

The rust eventually made its way to the old Pokémon's brain.

He never saw the Metagross again after his second birthday.

Another tragedy happened when he was seven. A 'friend' had invited Finn over for a sleepover. At the time, Finn hadn't truly realized that people didn't like him. He was nothing but polite to them, but for some reason the other kids found him weird and creepy. Thus, when a classmate invited him and some other kids over for a sleepover, he thought it was a chance to make some friends.

What Finn didn't realize was that he was there to be the butt of all the jokes. The recipient of pranks. The other kids made fun of or flat out ignored him, leaving him to go set up his sleeping bag in the corner. He had spent most of the night sleeping while the other children talked and played games.

At some point around midnight, he smelled burning skin.

After waking up, he had looked around to see where the smell was coming from. The kid who had invited everyone over was cackling his head off, while the others were giggling and pointing at him. He had looked at them quizzically, then at himself. It turned out that the little devil who had hosted the party had a pet Slugma, and when Finn fell asleep he had thought it would be funny to stick Finn's hand under the magmatic Pokémon.

Finn wound up needing extensive care for his right hand, and at the time he hadn't thought it was too bad. What he hadn't known at the time was that without the immediate attention that they had given his hand, he likely would have had his skin and muscle completely removed from the bone. The open wound would have been a prime site for infection, and it was entirely likely that he would have been incredibly sick because of that little prank.

As it was, Finn's right hand was covered in scarred skin because some kid thought it would be funny to stick the cripple's hand under a Pokémon that was literally lava. Finn hadn't even known when it happened because his nerves in his right hand were completely dead. In fact, he had been worried about the Slugma, because it had been forced to sit right next to him. Just like every Pokémon he had ever encountered, it had been scared of him for no real reason.

In all honesty, the only reason Finn's hand hadn't been seared to the bone was because the adults who actually owned the house and the Slugma had showed up. The prankster's mother had dragged him off by the ear, screaming at him all the while, meanwhile her husband had recalled the Slugma back to its Pokéball and called an ambulance.

After that, Finn never talked to those kids again.

Then there were the cases of his first Pokémon and his unique condition…

Finn shook his head and looked up from the dirt trail. Those were roads he didn't want to venture down. Not because they were sad, necessarily, but because he didn't want those things to be brought up again. Ever.

The teen paused and looked around. This wasn't part of the trail he followed every month to get the Aspen's lab. In fact, this didn't look like it was anywhere near Bluebell city.

He stood still and listened, looking up at the sky. It looked like it was still morning, but Finn knew better.

There was a light, mischievous giggle.

"…Misdreavus." Finn muttered, irritated. This wasn't the first time the Misdreavus in the forest had messed with him. It flat out avoided anyone who may have a Pokéball, however, meaning that the thing just pestered non-trainers. The thing didn't like him at all, even if it wasn't as scared of him as most Pokémon were.

Of course, it was an oddball amongst Misdreavus. Most of its species were nocturnal, only coming out at night to scare people. This one was not only diurnal, but it also utilized illusions that were far beyond the normal Misdreavus' capabilities. This Misdreavus was less malicious than most ghost types had a tendency to be, which was why it was allowed to even live near the city; but it was a problem for the occasional traveler. And it always picked Finn out any time it was awake when he passed. It happened infrequently enough that he was always surprised by its shenanigans.

Instead of freaking out or getting angry like most people did when they realized that the Misdreavus was screwing with them, he checked his Pokédex for the time. It was 2:30, which meant the Misdreavus had been leading him the wrong way – or more likely in circles – for an hour now. The ghost type wasn't able to effect technology, which was something Finn was incredibly thankful for. When he looked up from his Pokédex, the illusion was gone. He was back on the trail, and it was substantially darker.

With a sigh of relief, Finn set the bag of supplies down and sat down on a rock next to it. He wasn't too worried about being attacked by wild Pokémon, they tended to avoid him. Of course, that never stopped that Misdreavus, and there was one time when a Rattata had mauled his right forearm. It was probably just a blessing that it had only gotten his paralyzed arm. Professor Aspen had treated it the instant he got to the lab, meaning that it had only left very minor scarring.

Unfortunately, his lack of Pokémon wasn't advertised to everyone on the trail, and multiple trainers had tried to challenge him to a Pokémon battle. Hopefully that wouldn't happen today, he couldn't afford to let anyone even try to take the supplies from him. He hadn't brought any money with him today, and the typical payment required to decline a challenge was to pay half your money to the challenger. Of course, if you lost the Pokémon battle you also had to pay half your money, though winning meant that the challenger paid half of their money to you.

A droplet of water fell down on Finn's nose, alerting him to the fact that there were storm clouds directly above him. He looked up just as a bolt of lightning struck nearby, followed less than a fraction of a second later by deafening thunder.

As if the lightning had been the herald of the opening of the floodgates, rain poured down.

"Ah. So this is why the Misdreavus chose to distract me today." Finn observed, blinking the raindrops out of his eyes and lowering his head. He didn't mind the rain much, and there was nothing in the paper bag that could be damaged by water, so he wasn't in too much of a hurry.

Lightning struck again, letting him know that it wasn't just water that he had to worry about.

Grunting in effort, Finn picked the bag up again. Aspen knew his luck, and had kindly made sure to waterproof the bag. Otherwise it would have fallen apart.

There was another lightning strike, accompanied by an unbelievably loud crack of thunder. This part of the storm was not fun at all, even if he didn't mind the rain. The proximity of the lightning was also somewhat worrying. It was striking much closer than it usually did when there was a thunderstorm. Maybe there was a Pokémon that drew lightning in, like a Rhyhorn or a Blitzle. Those Pokémon could draw electricity in from storms or other Pokémon, neutralizing the effects and sometimes empowering the 'lightning rod' Pokémon. Such Pokémon often had a hard time in lightning storms, often being hit far more times than was considered safe.

A fourth lightning strike came down, and this time the thunder was accompanied by a horrifying metallic screech. Finn recognized the screech as the sound of a steel type in pain, something he had heard more times than he would have liked. His mother's Pokémon sometimes spent a while at home when they sustained more lasting injuries. With the technological advances that had defined the world – such as Pokéballs and healing devices – no injuries were truly permanent. Unless you were human.

But what was a steel type doing out in a thunder storm? They never liked being exposed to water, as it tended to rust most of them. Not to mention that the metal composition of most steel types made them act like lightning rods…

Finn cursed under his breath and turned, heading towards the place where the lightning hit. Most steel types could take a couple lightning strikes; they had no love for electricity, but neither were they particularly weak to it. But four consecutive hits? That couldn't be good.

Then Finn's typical luck hit.

The water had weakened the sides of the road, turning the path he normally walked on into mud. Finn put his foot down into a weakened part of the trail, causing him to go sliding to the side. Fortunately, he had wound up falling this way before, and managed to hook his right arm around a tree. Skidding to a stop with a jerk, he sighed in relief. He looked down into the ditch that he fell into regularly and sighed again. The lightning had hit somewhere in the ditch, meaning that his best bet was to continue down.

He let go of the tree and skidded the rest of the way down the slope. Mud was getting all over his clothes, but he could frankly care less. If there was a Pokémon that he could help, a little laundry wouldn't kill him.

Setting the bag down on a rock, he walked up the ditch towards where the lightning hit. There wasn't much chance of it hitting him, but he did want to go find whatever the lightning had struck. If it was a Pokémon, he probably needed to have his one usable hand free in order to help. If it wasn't a Pokémon, then there was no real harm done besides soaking his clothing.

There was a fifth lightning strike, immediately followed by a louder screech of what Pokémon trainers called metal sound. A steel type only made that noise when it was in pain or otherwise distressed, however they could, with training, make the sound at will to throw their opponents off guard. The sound was loud and high pitched enough to give Finn an instant headache, not to mention drowning out the sound of the thunder. Less than a second later there was a soft squelch of something falling into the mud.

That not only clarified that the lightning was hitting a Pokémon, but also that the Pokémon was definitely in pain.

Finn broke into a run, splashing through the mud and water. Possibilities of what Pokémon it might be ran through his head. Beldum periodically traveled through this area, and so did Skarmory. Maybe it was a steel type he hadn't heard of before, but he doubted it. His mother was a steel type specialist, after all.

It was only a moment before the Pokémon in pain came into sight. To his surprise, it was a Pokémon that were nearly unheard of in this area.

There was a Honedge stuck in the mud.

He knew a surprising amount about the steel/ghost types and their evolutions. His mother had raised a Honedge named Clarent all the way to an Aegislash, and his father periodically got requests for the swordlike creatures. Contrary to popular belief, ghost types usually weren't the souls of the deceased. Instead they were living creatures with abilities that could only be called paranormal. Everyone had heard stories about ancient warriors becoming Honedge and Doublade, and it was difficult to find someone who hadn't heard the common tale of Phantump being deceased children; even if there was no way to prove these things.

But what he knew best about Honedge and its evolutions was that they didn't live in this area. In fact, they were rarely found outside of Kalos.

The Honedge looked at him with its blue eye gem, trying to inch away but unable to due to the mud anchoring it to the ground. It seemed nervous and scared, but rather than the mindless fear that most Pokémon had, it seemed to be scared for a reason.

"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you." Finn soothed, slowly approaching.

Honedge were strange, even among Pokémon. As ghost types, they lived for incredible periods of time, possibly centuries. As steel types they were made almost entirely of metal, being essentially swords. Each Honedge had a single gemstone set where the cross-guard met the grip, acting as its eye. The sheath was probably the only safe place to touch a Honedge, as grabbing the grip caused the sash on the pommel to instinctively wrap around your arm; and a Honedge's sash sapped the life out of whatever it touched. Honedge could prevent their sashes from stealing life, but it took a great deal of training to do so.

"I'm just going to dig you out of the mud, okay?" Finn reassured the Honedge as it tried to inch away from him, only resulting in it wedging itself deeper.

The teen, making sure to make no sudden or threatening movements, reached down to where the Honedge's sheath was stuck in the mud and began to pull the wet soil away from the steel. The poor Pokémon's sash was charred, and it was making very quiet noises as if it were in pain.

With a tug, Finn pulled the Honedge out of the mud. He made sure to only touch the sheath, but he could tell that the sword Pokémon was nervous about his touch. It seemed far less nervous than it had been when he first saw it, but it was still skittish.

He let go of the Honedge and backed away, waiting to see what it would do. Almost immediately the Honedge started away from him, only to falter and fall to the ground again. It seemed that the lightning had messed with its ability to levitate, leaving it largely helpless.

"Do you want to come home with me? Just for a little while so that you can recover." Finn asked gently, reaching out with his left hand in a gesture to show he meant no harm.

The Honedge hesitated for a few seconds, clearly thinking it over, then floated over to him, its eye wide with fear.

"Come on then." Finn nudged.

Finn started off, back up the ditch towards the city. This was probably the safest place to be in a thunderstorm, despite the fact that there was already a small stream running down the middle. The lightning wouldn't hit the low ground, despite the steel type hovering just above the ground.

Now that he observed it, the Honedge was smaller than the few he had seen. It may have had something to do with the fact that the only Honedge Finn had seen were bred specifically for power and durability.

Even then, most of those Honedge his father had bred wouldn't be able to take five consecutive lightning strikes and remain conscious. It was truly miraculous that this one was even alive.

Actually, it wasn't miraculous. Finn had too many negative connotations with that word.

Finn picked up the bag of supplies on the way past. He couldn't let those things stay out here where anyone could find them. That would only lead to disaster.

The Pokémon and human duo eventually got back to the city. Both of them were covered in mud and soaked through, but neither was badly injured. The Honedge had maintained a safe distance from Finn the whole time, staying just far enough away to run if it wanted to, while close enough to draw comfort from his proximity.

For the first time in several years, Finn was actually happy. Not content or excited, but flat out happy. He had a Pokémon by his side, and even if it didn't fully trust him yet, it wasn't terrified of him for no real reason. It didn't seem to like humans in general much, as it shied away from a random person we passed on the street.

As they passed a dark alley Finn paused. There were multiple gangs in the city, despite the –largely ineffectual- efforts of the police. They had jumped Finn once when he was bringing supplies back from Professor Aspen's place. He was fortunate to have had Nero accompanying him that time, which lead to a trio of muggers in jail that were poisoned, paralyzed, and asleep. Simultaneously.

He hadn't been mugged since.

Shrugging, Finn continued onwards, gesturing for the Honedge to follow. It was only a couple minutes later when the two reached Finn's home. Finn put the bag down and unlocked the front door.

"Welcome to my place. Mom'll be back around eight, she'll be able to help you out then." Finn informed the Honedge.

In response, the Honedge emitted a metallic sound. Finn couldn't discern if it was impressed, pleased, sad, angry, or scared. It probably didn't matter. He wasn't going to let this poor thing out in the rain.

Pushing the door open, Finn entered his home and looked around. It was a nice place, with the family crest of an Aegislash on a kite shield background hanging over the fireplace. Finn wiped his feet on the doormat and waved the Honedge inside.

The steel type entered slowly, blinking at the room around it. Finn couldn't tell what it was thinking, but he chuckled at its reaction.

Then a miracle occurred.

As Finn was pushing the door closed with his right elbow, lightning struck within the city. Moments later, the resulting thunder cracked deafeningly. The Honedge, reacting in fear, jumped and wrapped its sash around the nearest object.

That nearest object was Finn's right forearm.

Searing pain burned through Finn's arm, and he cried out in agony. The pain grew worse and worse as he slowly lost consciousness. His last thought was one of bitterness.

 _Some miracle this was…_

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here's chapter two, in which we learn more about Finn's misfortunes, and have a discussion on the nature of miracles.**


	3. Friends, Old and New

Have you ever drifted away from a friend?

Say that you're the best of friends with someone. The two of you do everything together, you share interests, you have fun together, and you stand up for one another.

Then, for some reason, your friend is gone. Be it physically gone, or just not your friend any more. Maybe they moved to another town or city, and they can't stay in contact with you. Maybe you both developed interests in different things, and now you don't talk as often as before.

Maybe they're just not around anymore.

For the second four years of his life, Finn's best friend was a Riolu.

It was his fourth birthday when he met the Riolu. Mr. Ferris, Finn's father, was an accomplished Pokémon breeder; like any accomplished breeder, he had an impressive collection of rare and difficult to obtain Pokémon. Thus, it wasn't much of a surprise to friends of the family when Mr. Ferris gave his son a newly hatched Riolu for his birthday.

Finn had named him Sparks.

The little Riolu was scared of him for a long while, even if Finn could never figure out why. The only reason Sparks even became his friend at all was because his father had given the Riolu to Finn to take care of.

Since one of his parents was a gym leader, and the other was a world famous breeder, Finn's family was well off when it came to money. Nowadays he wouldn't accept their money or resources, as he wanted to build his own life as a Pokémon trainer, but when he was four, his parents doted on him. They bought him all manner of fancy gadgets and toys; including a rare Pokémon talker collar. While an argument could be made for putting the collar on one of his parent's Pokémon, they had put it on Sparks.

Throughout his childhood, Sparks had been his only real friend.

It took a couple months for the aura sensing creature to finally warm up to him, and that was only because he was the one who fed the little guy. If the Riolu had maintained its fearful attitude, it probably would have starved to death. About three months after Finn's fourth birthday, it finally opened up to him. It was around this time that Finn's parents put the talker collar on it.

Finn had been mature for his age even then.

Which was why, when Sparks finally responded to him, he wasn't angry about being feared and avoided.

"C'mon Sparks. I just want to give you some food!" A much younger Finn protested as his Riolu hid from him.

The Riolu whimpered in response, still hiding under the bed. Sparks wasn't accustomed to the translation effects of the talker collar, and often just made simple noises. He wasn't very noisy in any circumstance.

"P-please Sparks." Finn tried again, beginning to tear up. "You need to eat."

Sparks whimpered again, shrinking back farther under the bed, if that was even possible.

Finn set the bowl of food down and sat down next to it, crying. "I'm n-never gonna be a Pokémon trainer! I c-can't even get my Pokémon to eat!"

He sat there crying for a while, how long he didn't know. After an indefinite time, something warm and furry rested on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Human and Pokémon embraced each other.

Then the memory ended.

Sparks had never meant to make Finn sad. Quite the opposite, once he got to know the human. The Riolu very quickly became Finn's closest friend, even if he didn't talk much.

One time, Finn asked Sparks why Pokémon never liked him.

"Hey Sparks…" A six year old Finn began, fiddling with a puzzle cube. "Why don't Pokémon like me much?"

"What do you mean?" The Riolu asked in clarification. He had gotten more accustomed to the talker collar, though he still preferred silence to speech.

"Every time I meet a new Pokémon they seem to really hate me." Finn specified. "Even you were scared of me when Dad first brought you in. Why?"

The Riolu rubbed his chin in thought, a habit he had picked up from Finn's father. The little Pokémon had grown and matured a lot in the two years since he had hatched. Pokémon often matured faster than humans, though their lifespans were sometimes either shorter or much longer than those of humans. Lucario and Riolu lived for around the same amount of time as a human, for example.

After a little bit of thinking, Sparks came up with an answer. "I think it's because your aura is all… icky."

"My ora is icky?" Finn asked, confused.

"Your aura. Your life energy." Sparks explained. "It's all weird."

"How is it weird?"

"I don't know. It's different from other people." The Riolu seemed slightly puzzled. "It makes you more… scary. And strange."

Then the memory ended.

Sparks had been remarkably intelligent, and his vocabulary had quickly outgrown Finn's. The Riolu was always better spoken than his human friend, but that didn't lessen their great friendship. The two were inseparable, and despite having a Pokéball for Sparks, Finn never used it. He preferred to have his Pokémon out so the two of them could interact.

The two of them walked to school together, with Sparks staying with Finn until they got to the school, then the Riolu would go to the nearby daycare and play with the other Pokémon. This left Finn vulnerable to the bullies that plagued his school life.

Most of the time.

"What exactly is it like in a Pokéball?" Finn, now seven, asked his Riolu.

"I… can't describe it." Sparks replied. "It's comfortable, but it gets boring after a while. I mean, while in the ball there's no real difference between an hour and a day, but regardless of the period of time it becomes boring right before being released."

"So time becomes… nonessential?" Finn clarified.

"Yeah. It doesn't matter how long I'm in the Pokéball, it still feels like only a short period of time." Sparks scratched the back of his head. "It's also really easy to rest in the Pokéball, but it's not the same as sleeping outside the ball."

"Huh. That's weird." Finn commented, stopping as they arrived at the school. "Well, I'll see you later Sparks."

"Hey! It's the crippled freak!"

Finn sighed as a group of kids approached, headed by the kid who had burned his hand under the Slugma. Finn didn't blame the Slugma, although his patience for its owner was shorter than a Joltik. "What do you want Darrell."

"Just your lunch money. It would be wasted on a little freak like you." Darrell replied with a sneer. "My parents still aren't giving me the video game I asked for, so I need yours."

Darrell was taller than he was, and that made him think he was king of the world. He was the tallest in the grade level, but he was also in the bottom 10% of the class. The brat was spoiled rotten and he knew it.

It was quite an interesting scenario. The kid with the middle class parents that was spoiled, bullying the kid with the wealthy parents that didn't ask for much. It just proved that heritage had nothing to do with personality.

Finn sighed again and slipped his backpack off, reaching into the pocket in order to pull out his lunch money.

"Leave Finn alone." Sparks growled, getting into a fighting stance.

"Aww, does your little puppy want to fight me? You better get this mutt under control Ferris. I would hate to have to hurt it." Darrell said cockily.

 _Thwak!_

Sparks punched Darrell in the face with just the right amount of force to knock him out. The Riolu drew his paw back and readied himself to launch another blow at one of Darrell's lackeys.

They ran.

Then the memory ended.

Sparks had been the best part of Finn's life, almost like the brother he never had. Sparks had protected him from the bullies, had accepted him when no other Pokémon did, and had taught him how to be responsible for another creature. In fact, it was because of Sparks that Finn even wanted to be a Pokémon trainer at all.

Unfortunately, it didn't last.

Finn's father was needed elsewhere, and he needed to bring his strongest Pokémon.

For some reason Finn never understood, he took Sparks.

He had never even said goodbye.

* * *

"Oh Arceus, I killed him! He helped me and I killed him!"

Finn's mind rose out of the darkness of unconsciousness. Someone was talking, although he didn't recognize the voice. Who was that? What had happened?

"I killed him! I'm a monster! What have I done?!"

Killed who? Finn was still alive. He had one heck of a headache, but he was fine other than that. But who was talking? Seriously? And where were they?

He groaned and opened his eyes. Oh, that's right. He had collapsed in his living room, after…

Wait, what all had happened before he passed out?

There was the usual visit to Professor Aspen that he made every few months. He had finally gotten Sera to do more than ignore him, which was an accomplishment in his book. The Misdreavus had messed with him, as per usual, and then there was a thunderstorm. He found a Honedge and…

And it had wrapped its sash around his arm.

Finn blinked and pushed himself up on his left elbow. By all rights he should be dead after something like that happened. There were no accounts of a Honedge or its evolutions stealing life from someone or something and the subject surviving. They tapped into the aura of their victim, or something like that, and stole the breath from their lungs and the soul from their body. If you encountered a Honedge in the wild and wound up with its sash around your arm, regardless of how it happened, you died. End of story.

So how was he still alive?

With a grunt, Finn pushed himself up to his feet, staggering slightly. He wasn't feeling all that good, what with the headache, and his arm still burned.

Wait, what?

Finn raised his right arm and examined his forearm. There was a scar that wound around his arm that perfectly matched a Honedge sash, smaller the closer it was to his wrist and widening the closer it was to his elbow. There was a swirl of scarred tissue close to the wide end, just before the frayed 'fingers' of the Honedge sash.

"You're alive!"

A small yet dense form hit Finn in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to stumble back a couple steps. He looked down to see the Honedge from – earlier? – huddling against him. "Umm…"

"You're not dead! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" It was certainly the Honedge talking. It had a metallic twang to its voice, along with the strange echoing quality of a ghost type.

"How are you talking?!" Finn exclaimed in confusion. He couldn't see a talker device on it, and Honedge didn't make the same sounds as most Pokémon anyway. Their evolution line mostly just made metallic noises instead of saying their species name like most Pokémon.

"I-I always talk…" The Honedge backed away from him, suddenly timid. "Humans just don't understand most of the time…"

"Yes, but I shouldn't be able to understand you. What changed?" Finn scratched his head, looking down at his newly scarred right arm. It was like a burn, but the skin was blackened where the Honedge had touched it. The end with the fingers was an angry red, contrasting sharply with both his normal skin and the rest of the scar. "And why does my arm hurt?"

"I accidentally damaged your arm. I'm sorry." The Honedge answered sheepishly.

"No, I mean my arm is paralyzed from the elbow down. Also, how can I understand you without a talker device?" Finn was still incredibly confused. Talking Pokémon weren't entirely new to him, but neither were they a daily occurrence. The only Pokémon Finn knew of that could speak human without talker devices were psychics, incredibly old ghosts, and legendary Pokémon. The first through telepathy in most cases, the second because of their extreme amount of experience in the world, and the third was mostly speculation. There were few people to have seen Legendary Pokémon, and those who claim to have seen them have been passed off as liars or insane.

"Y-your arm is paralyzed?" The Honedge asked, floating up to look at his right forearm. "It doesn't look like it."

"It's mostly just the hand." Finn answered, feeling extremely tired all of a sudden. He pulled his Pokedex out of his pocket and checked the time. Five o'clock. He had been out for almost two hours. Judging by the way the Honedge had been fretting, it had been panicking the whole time he was out. After a moment's deliberation, Finn decided to put the Pokédex to the use it was designed, and scanned the Honedge.

[Honedge]

[Sword Pokémon]

[Type: Steel/Ghost]

[Ability: No Guard. This Pokémon cannot miss, and cannot dodge]

[Gender: Female]

[This steel type Pokémon can feed off of the souls of humans and other Pokémon. It does so by wrapping its arm-like sash around its victim and draining energy from them. The target of their efforts does not survive]

"…well then." Finn commented under his breath, looking through the information on his Pokédex. He knew about the soul stealing attributes of Honedge and its evolutions, as well as their incredible accuracy and inability to dodge, but the news on its gender was what he was most interested in. He didn't even realize that Honedge had genders, and he didn't have a clue on what the differences between male and female were.

"Your hand isn't paralyzed." The Honedge stated. "But it is atrophied."

Finn's head snapped towards it. "What?"

"It can move, but the muscles are weak because of disuse." It, she, clarified. "Why haven't you used your right hand?"

"It is paralyzed though." Finn insisted. "It has been since the day I was born."

"Then why does this happen." She nudged his hand, causing it to twitch.

He stared at his hand in complete awe. "I felt that."

"Of course you felt that, I touched your hand." The Honedge said, her gemstone eye looking back and forth between his face and hand. "That's how that works, right?"

Finn didn't say anything, just staring at his right hand. He had been crippled since the day he was born, and now he suddenly wasn't. With a little bit of effort, he managed to make his hand twitch, but not close. He wasn't paralyzed anymore, and even if he couldn't use his right hand as well as his left, he could get better.

"You weren't kidding about the paralyzed right hand, were you?" The Honedge asked, surprised.

"No, I wasn't." Finn whispered, still looking at his hand. He looked up at the Honedge. "Why aren't you scared of me?"

"Sh-should I be?" The Honedge backed away from him, faltering a little bit.

"I meant that most Pokémon are scared of me for no real reason." Finn replied, putting his Pokédex back in his pocket. "Apparently has something to do with my aura."

"How so?" The Honedge was more curious than scared now, and it floated back towards him.

"I make a really, really bad first impression on just about everyone. Regardless of what I do." Finn answered. "There are a few people who don't immediately hate me, but as a rule when I meet someone they're either afraid of me, or they hate me."

"That's… really sad." The Honedge said sympathetically.

"I still don't understand how we can understand each other perfectly." Finn changed topics and looked around. He had left a puddle on the floor, and there was mud all over him.

"Why? I'm intelligent." The Honedge asked curiously. She wasn't wrong. Ghost, dark, and psychic type Pokémon were almost always at or above average human intelligence. Dragon types and fairy types were also often at human intelligence, along with fighting type Pokémon.

"That's not what I meant. Humans normally can't understand Pokémon." He explained.

"Oh." The Honedge thought about it for a while, then flapped her sash in a dismissive gesture. "It doesn't matter, does it?"

"Not as much as me surviving." Finn muttered.

"I'm sorry." The Honedge shrank back a bit. "I didn't mean to."

"It's fine. I get it." Finn soothed. "So, uh, do you have a name?"

"…no." She seemed ashamed of this fact.

"Do you want one?" Finn asked with a grin.

"Yes, please!" The Honedge perked up.

"Okay then." Finn looked down at himself. "Uh, do you mind waiting a little bit?"

"Nope." The Honedge answered, looking around the room as if it were the first time she had been in there. Looked like she really had fretted over him the whole time he had been out.

"Thanks, I'll be back in about half an hour." Finn assured, running upstairs to his room.

Twenty five minutes later he stepped out of his room with wet hair and a new shirt and shorts. Still cargo shorts, he needed pants with enough pockets on the left side to make up for his unusable right. The shirt was blue with a simplified Metagross on it. His mom was literally a steel type fanatic.

Finn walked downstairs to see the Honedge looking up at the bookshelf that took up a portion of one wall. He chuckled. "Whatcha looking at?"

The Honedge started and whirled around to look at him. "What are those?"

"Books. They hold information in them. Some people call them outdated, but there are some things that you just shouldn't transfer to technology." Finn answered, walking over and pulling a book out. "Like this. A book of legends from the old days. Not everyone worshipped the legendary Pokémon as gods, some had their own."

"Like what?"

"Oh, there are whole pantheons of gods. It would be difficult to classify them all. Gods of war, gods of lightning, gods of the sea; just about every region had one of those…" Finn rifled through the pages until he reached the one he was looking for. "Ah-hah. There we go."

"What?" The Honedge levitated up over his shoulder to look at the book.

"I was looking for one in particular, a goddess of wisdom and strategy. Would you like to be named after her?" Finn asked.

The Honedge squinted as she looked at the page. Finn couldn't tell if she could read, but it certainly seemed like it. "Okay then."

"Okay then, we've got a name for you Athena."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Chapter three, in which we learn of Finn's first Pokémon, a bit about why people and Pokémon avoid him, and that strange things are going on. Finn gets along with Pokémon a lot better than he does with humans, even if the Pokémon doesn't get along with him.**

 **I wrote out the Honedge Pokédex entry based off of the information in the actual Pokédex. I also decided to explain abilities as attributes of the Pokémon that have them. For example, a Pokémon with No Guard has great accuracy, but has next to no ability to dodge.**

 **The reason the Honedge wasn't scared of him is because she had more pressing fears on her mind. She is timid, but she was more worried about the lightning storm than she was about the human that cast a strange aura.**


	4. What Darkness Lurks?

Sometimes people are instant enemies.

They dislike each other from the moment they meet, be it because of opposing personalities, philosophies, or attitudes. Sometimes it's how they meet; one person disliking what the other is doing. Perhaps they meet because they are fighting over something. Regardless, such encounters often result in either an incredibly short acquaintance, or a very long rivalry.

Finn had a lot of these relationships.

Yet sometimes it's the complete opposite.

Very rarely, you meet someone that you are friends with immediately. Perhaps your personalities match or are complementary. Maybe the two of you like to debate on your ideas and philosophies. Or maybe it has to do with how you meet. Maybe you meet in difficult circumstances that force you together, and you bond because of it. Perhaps it's because you meet in perfect circumstance, leading to romance or a good friendship. Regardless, the two of you are friends for a long time, until something forces it to end.

This was the kind of relationship Finn felt brewing between himself and Athena.

She had taken to the name like a fish to water, and that was something that Finn was very pleased with. He often enjoyed reading about the old legends, and had always wanted to name one of his Pokémon after one of the gods. In fact, he would probably bring the book with him on his adventure to see if one of the other mythical figures would have a name that could work for another one of his Pokémon.

Finn blinked in surprise. He was already planning on his adventure, but he technically didn't even have a Pokémon yet. Just a few hours ago, he wouldn't even think about going on a trainer's adventure, because he not only believed he wouldn't be able to, but because he also knew that thinking about what couldn't be would make him upset. Now he was planning on leaving his home for an indeterminate amount of time with a Honedge that he didn't even technically own as his only companion. Quite a turnaround.

He looked up at Athena. She was reading a book on chivalry, and apparently found it fascinating. It made some sense, seeing as she was a living sword and chivalry was the art of combat, but it was amusing nonetheless. What really perplexed him was where she had learned to read. She had told him that she was born in the wild, but since she could read that made him wonder if she hadn't met any previous humans.

That brought up another major question. How could he understand her? Why was it words instead of the meaningless screeches and warbles of a normal steel type?

Come to that, what had let him survive?

In the long run, how it happened didn't matter. He had a Pokémon now, one that was his and only his. There was no way that he was going to lose her either, ghost types were almost impossible to trap or kidnap. That wasn't even taking into account the possibility that she knew how to shadow sneak, a ghostly technique that was basically teleportation. Then there was the possibility that Athena could do other ghostly abilities, such as intangibility and possession.

So yeah, she wasn't going anywhere she didn't want to.

The teen sighed and smacked his forehead. He hadn't even used a Pokéball on her yet. She wasn't technically his Pokémon.

But he didn't have a single Pokéball.

What he was really doing now was waiting for his mother to come home. Not only was she a steel type expert who could help Athena, but she always had a supply of resources on her. True, there were Pokéballs in the bag that Professor Aspen had sent back with him, but it came with an inventory list, and Finn didn't want to accidentally screw it up.

A buzzing emanated from Finn's pocket. He reached down to pull his phone out and looked at it, groaning.

 _Not going to be back for a while. Got a Tyranitar raiding the western quarter of the city; multiple things have gone missing. See you soon._

 _-Mom_

"Well, there go my plans for the evening." Finn muttered, going to put his phone back in his pocket.

"What do you mean?" Athena asked, looking up from her book.

"Mom's not gonna be back for a few days. There's a Tyranitar that's attacking the city, and subsequently there have been multiple cases of thievery. Probably some goon's Pupitar just evolved and he thought it would be an easy way to get rich." Finn answered, shaking his head. "Naturally, they called in the steel type gym leader to take out a rock type."

"We should help then!" The Honedge proclaimed, floating up a bit before falling back down.

"Mom can handle it. She's got a powerful Metagross and a surprisingly fast Aegislash. Xollen and Clarent can handle just about anything short of a champion-level Pokémon." Finn assured, looking at his phone still.

"Oh. Ok." Athena muttered, turning back to her book.

Finn bit his lower lip in thought, then started dialing in a number on his phone. After a couple rings, the person on the other side answered. "Hello?"

"Hey Professor. I have some important news." Finn greeted.

"Oh? What would that be?" Professor Aspen asked, sounding simultaneously curious and worried.

"I can't be your lab assistant." Finn informed, waiting for her response.

"Oh." Aspen sounded disappointed. "Well, we can try and import some Alolan starters for you, I've just now gotten a response from the customs officers. It's expensive, since they don't like exporting their Pokémon, but-"

"No, I don't need another Pokémon." He interrupted.

"Another…?" Aspen gasped, and in the background Finn could hear a voice saying 'Roserade!'. "I'm so happy for you! What kind of Pokémon did you find?"

"A Honedge." Finn answered with a smile. "I don't have a Pokéball for her yet, but that's not the only strange thing going on. I need to come over tomorrow and show you, you won't believe it otherwise."

"Okay then, I'll have a Pokéball ready for you when you come over." Professor Aspen replied happily. "See you then."

"See ya." Finn replied, hanging up.

"Who was that?" Athena asked. She had been respectfully silent the whole time he had been on the phone.

"Professor Aspen." Finn answered, putting his phone away for good. "She's my doctor, physician, therapist, and my mom's friend all rolled into one. She's been trying to get me a Pokémon for the past four years."

"Ok." The Honedge looked back at her book, then up at him again. "Are you going to catch me?"

Finn raised an eyebrow. "Would you like me to?"

Athena stayed silent for a short while, then spoke up again. "I want to stay with you, but I don't want to stay in a Pokéball."

"Then you won't stay in a Pokéball." Finn stated simply, shrugging. "But you will need to be linked to one in order to not be caught by another person."

"Ok then." Athena bobbed. Honedge couldn't bend, so her bobbing was probably the way she nodded.

Now Finn finally had a Pokémon to call his own. A Pokémon that would stay by his side as he ventured through the world. A companion that would help him battle the Pokémon league.

It occurred to Finn that he was very lonely.

With a sigh, Finn looked up at the clock. "I think I'm off to bed. Good night, Athena."

The Honedge kept reading. As a ghost type, she didn't even need to sleep. "Good night, Finn."

* * *

 _Finn looked out over the horizon. The world was collapsing, but that was nothing new. Humans were nearly extinct, and the remaining Pokémon were feral beyond belief. Pokémon that were ordinarily considered man's best friend became violent, trying to kill the humans. It wasn't surprising, either. It was a sad truth, but the few survivors hunted any Pokémon for food. Even steel and rock types were hunted down for the little nutritious matter that they had within their bodies. Ghost type Pokémon were the only ones that were safe, as they not only lacked any biological matter but could escape easily._

 _All this would be important, if the type classifications meant anything anymore._

 _The gyms had all collapsed, the type specialists finding their Pokémon revolting against them. The few loyal Pokémon were slain, their ordinary strengths turned against them by the monsters that had spewed forth from the ground. The vile abominations that caused a Pokémon to turn against their trainer._

 _The monstrosities had cracked the ground, creating fissures throughout the cities and towns. They weren't human or Pokémon, but something in between. They were maddened creatures, with the cunning and ferocity of humans combined with the instincts and power of Pokémon. Horrific monsters with Scyther claws and Blastoise shells tore through the cities, killing indiscriminately while being completely indestructible. Massive abominations with the size of a full grown Tyranitar mowed through the buildings, obliterating them entirely. Smaller creatures that were nothing more than hollow shells stalked through the wreckage, seeking out and murdering the survivors._

 _The apocalypse had come in the form of failed science._

 _Nobody could survive that on their own. Nobody did survive that on their own._

 _Even Finn didn't survive._

 _He had died the first day of the apocalypse. Finn had defended the refugees as they ran, fighting the monsters as they approached in droves. His Pokémon died one by one, until the only one left was Athena. She was his most loyal and powerful Pokémon, his life-long companion. The Aegislash was the only one of his Pokémon he trusted with his life, the only one that hadn't been affected at all by the mind altering effects of the abominations._

 _A Magmortar was what shot him down. Not a normal one, but a strange fusion between Magmortar, Dusknoir, and Rhyperior. There were still hints of human features in its face, though its misshapen body was of indeterminate gender. It had lobbed globs of magma at the refugees, leading to Athena sheltering all of them with King's Shield. That was why, when the monster suddenly appeared behind Finn, she wasn't able to stop it from firing a point blank Shadow Ball into the back of his head._

 _Finn came to an indeterminate time later, the ground around him dry and cracked. Athena was looming over him, one of her sash-arms cradling his head while the other was resting over his heart. He gasped in air, suddenly alive again after a long while of being dead. As he breathed in air, Athena began to slowly slide to the side, her purple gemstone-eye glazing over._

 _Athena, his greatest companion and most beloved Pokémon, had sacrificed herself for him._

 _With anger in his heart and revenge in his mind, Finn took Athena's dead body and used her as the blade she was. He hunted down and killed tens, possibly dozens of the monsters that had destroyed the world. He used Athena's blade as his weapon, and her shield as his armor. It didn't matter that the average Aegislash was well over five feet tall, in his ceaseless anger, Finn used the massive broadsword in one hand, the sashes tied around his arm. He kept vainly hoping that the life-draining abilities of an Aegislash would bring her back, but it was for nothing._

 _Then, one day, the monsters vanished._

 _Vanished would be putting it too simply. The monsters didn't vanish off the face of the earth without a trace, instead they all died. It was like they were on an adrenalin rush, and the instant it ended they fell over dead. Their lifespans were ridiculously short, despite the fact that many of them had parts that indicated that they were created from Pokémon that lived for centuries._

 _He sighed and stood up from his crouch. He was standing atop one of the monsters; a particularly vicious one that had destroyed Bluebell city more or less singlehandedly. It was hollow and stony, indicating its Tyranitar heritage, and had the tail of a Gliscor protruding from its back. Its broken corpse was face down on the ground, many of its body parts heavily damaged or flat out removed for whatever use they could serve._

 _"Careful, who knows what else might be searching this thing for resources."_

 _"Hope there's a Pokémon, I haven't eaten for days."_

 _Finn sighed again and dropped down into the monster's hollow corpse. There were two scavengers, one armed with a gun and the other holding a fire axe in his hands._

 _"Thank god, another person!" The man with the gun exclaimed in relief. "I was beginning to wonder if there were any other people in this hellhole."_

 _"Why thank god?" Finn asked, his voice hoarse from disuse. He hadn't spoken in months, possibly years. He didn't know. It had been so long since he had a use for time measurement anyway. He didn't age anymore, now that he was dead; and food had no use to him either. "What has it done for us?"_

 _"It's just an expression man." The gun carrier muttered, before speaking up again. "Have you seen any other survivors? Me and Phil have been scraping by, but there's not much you can do when you try and live in a city even ghosts avoid."_

 _"Yeah, we're close to starving to death." Phil added, looking around. "Let's go Bob, there's nothing in this thing. We should go find somewhere else, like Ephar city. I heard that there's a group there that has fruit trees."_

 _"Yeah, let's go." Bob agreed. "You wanna come with us? We could use another person, and if you're good with that sword we might be able to hunt something down. What's your name, anyway? I'm Robert, and this is Phil."_

 _"Finn." Finn replied, slowly stalking towards the duo. "Finnegan Ferris."_

 _"Ferris, huh? Isn't that the old steel gym leader's name?" Phil asked._

 _"Yes."_

 _"I thought her whole family was dead, after seeing the old mister Ferris get crushed by a Steelix?" Bob inquired, tilting his head._

 _"They are." Finn answered, holding his sword out to the side._

 _True, food had no use for him now, but he had learned that he could get nourishment in a different way. When Athena transferred her life energy to him, he became more than human. More like an Aegislash than a mortal being._

 _Finn lunged forwards, plunging his blade into Bob all the way to the hilt. He tilted his head back and hissed in pleasure as the man's life energy flooded into him. It had been forever since he last fed, and he had nearly forgotten the feeling._

 _An axe came down on his shield, his left arm whipping into the weapon's path as if it was possessed by a mind of its own. Finn hissed again and pulled his blade out of the dead human, then spun and impaled Phil through the heart._

 _As soon as the human stopped breathing, he pulled his blade out again. "Rats. Only good for one thing."_

 _"You were like them once."_

 _Finn spun around and swiped at the new figure behind him, only to find his blade hissing through the humanoid shape. "What are you?"_

 _"You knew once. Now you have forgotten, and you are now one of the same creatures that you fought so violently against before." The dark figure said, looking at him. He was old, very old, with piercing blue eyes and long silvery hair. He was wearing a dark, hooded robe that covered his whole body._

 _With an angry hiss, Finn's sword whispered through the air towards the old man's head. "You know nothing about me."_

 _The old man slid out of the way. "I know much about who you are, and who you will be. A shame this is the only way to speak to you."_

 _"Die already!" Finn growled, his sword covered in light as it swiped towards the old man again._

 _Another figure held his hand back, and a feminine voice spoke. "Do not begrudge him for your unfortunate fate. He is not responsible."_

 _"What are you talking about?" Finn hissed, struggling._

 _"Look at yourself." The old man commanded._

 _Finn pulled away from the two mysterious people and looked down at himself. He gasped in surprise._

 _His sword was not in his hand._

 _It was his hand._

 _With a shrug, he looked at the old man again. "So?"_

 _He had become a monster._

 _But the worst part was that he didn't care._

* * *

Finn sat up and cried out in terror, his whole body drenched in sweat. That hadn't been real, had it? It couldn't be real. There was no way to fuse Pokémon and human DNA to create monsters like that. And that wasn't how Aegislash worked. They couldn't bring people back from the grave. The only Pokémon that supposedly could were the elusive Spiritomb, which absorbed the souls of the dead into its hivemind, and Dusknoir, which would refuse to do so because it would violate their purpose.

But who were those two at the end? The old man and the ageless woman. They weren't anyone he knew. What had that dream been? What had that nightmare been about?

He shook his head to wake himself up and got out of bed. After that horrifying nightmare, he needed to take a shower.

Ten minutes later, and after a shower and a change of clothes, he walked downstairs. His scarred right arm was more or less the same as last night, down to his inability to do much more than twitch his fingers. That didn't dissuade Finn, however. Today he would ask Professor Aspen to take a look at it.

"Good morning Finn." Athena greeted, reading another book. One of his mother's adventure novels, it looked like. "Did you sleep well?"

"Not… quite." Finn replied, rubbing the back of his head. "Had a really weird dream. Really worrying too."

"Really? What about?"

"It was like… the apocalypse. Everyone was dead, and I do mean everyone. The cities were demolished and empty, the few survivors were scavengers." Finn shuddered. "You were my only companion, and even you were dead. _I_ was dead. It was simultaneously surreal and realistic. Downright terrifying, really."

And just like that, he had poured his inner secrets to this creature he had met just yesterday. It was amazing, really. He had gone his whole life without any friends, and now that he had one he had latched on. Either he was way too trusting, or cripplingly lonely.

"If you were dead, how did you have the perspective?" Athena asked, tilting to the side as if cocking her head.

"I was simultaneously dead and alive. I had died earlier, but…" Finn shook his head. "You brought me back as some sort of vengeance demon. You were an Aegislash in my dream, and I used your blade to kill…"

The human shuddered again. "Then there were these two people. They weren't like other people you see in dreams. They were… something else."

"That's odd." Athena commented, closing her book. "Maybe you should get a lunar wing. According to the legends, they can prevent nightmares and guarantee good dreams."

"…I never put much stock in legends." Finn muttered, shrugging. "I'll wait a bit before I try that. It's just a nightmare. What's important is getting to Professor Aspen's place. She's expecting us."

"Okay." Athena picked up her book and set it on a pile of others.

"But first, I need to pack. We might not be coming back here for a long while." Finn said with a smile. "I'm going to get my bag ready, pick out any of those you may want to read. We might be able to fit a few of them in."

Athena made a gasping sound. "Really?"

"Yeah. I probably have enough room in my bag. Although you won't be reading them at night, I don't care if being a ghost type gives you super vision or something like that. You're going to be keeping watch." Finn joked, walking upstairs.

It wasn't really difficult for him to figure out what he wanted to bring with him on his journey. He had been planning it for the past four years, after all. He had a ton of supplies stocked up. Nothing Pokémon related, as that would require him to ask for supplies from his mom, but he had rope, flint and steel, a flashlight, backup batteries, bedroll, sleeping bag, a pocket knife (which he may not need any more), a water bottle, and cleaning supplies. Coupled with his abundant and varied clothing, he had just about anything he could need for an extended journey.

Most people thought that Pokémon trainers had bottomless backpacks, what with the insane amount of stuff that they often carried. In truth, the reality wasn't far off from rumor. Using the same technology as a Pokéball, specially made backpacks could carry an absurd amount of equipment. It was specialized for nonliving matter, however, so you couldn't safely put a living being inside. It did increase the capacity, however. Storing a living creature in the strange stasis state of a Pokéball required a large amount of power, at least, if you expected the creature to come out alive as well.

Finn slung his tube shaped bag around his body, hanging under his right arm. One of the pockets on the left side of the bag was designed to hold Pokéballs and other battle items, it used psychic based technology to deposit an item that the trainer requests directly into their hand. The main pocket held most of his camping supplies and clothing, while one of the outer pockets had his flashlight and anything else he may need at any time. The bag was constructed to accommodate a left handed person, for which Finn was incredibly grateful.

After a moment's thought, he attached a band to the shoulder strap. It was specifically designed to carry a Honedge. His mother had used it when training Clarent, forcing the ghost type to rely upon her in order to remove its bloodlust. Clarent, while currently powerful and loyal, wasn't always a nice creature. However, that wasn't what he would be using it for. His mother had no use for it, now that Clarent was a loyal Aegislash, but he could use it until Athena was fully recovered.

With bag under his arm, he walked back downstairs. Athena was staring at the bookshelf, her sash-hand hovering over the spine of a book. After a moment, she flicked her hand to the side, then back again. "Having difficulty choosing?"

Athena jumped and whirled around. "There's so many!"

"Well, I think my bag has enough data to store about fifteen books; although I'd prefer to cut it to ten instead. I need to have enough space to hold Pokéballs and battle items. You know, potions, antidotes, and the like." Finn explained.

"OK then. I already stacked my top ten choices right here." Athena gestured to a small stack of books.

"Heh, talk about organized." Finn said with a laugh. He walked over and set his bag down, unzipping the main pocket as he went. He started putting books in the bag. "Adventure novels? I don't blame you. Some of these are my personal favorites."

To Finn's surprise, one of the books Athena had picked out was the collection of myths and legends that he had named her from. "You're bringing this one?"

"Yes. I want to know more about my namesake." The Honedge replied sheepishly.

"Hey, I was gonna bring it along anyway. Thanks." Finn reassured with a smile, putting the last book in his bag and standing up. "You still having trouble levitating?"

"Just a bit." Athena replied, falling as she spoke.

"More than just a bit." Finn corrected, chuckling. "I've got something for you, just until we get to Professor Aspen's."

Finn gestured for Athena to come closer. "Mom got this made for Clarent."

"Erm… what is 'this'?" Athena asked, looking over at the bag.

"A sheath mount." Finn explained, holding the object up. "I can use this to attach you to my bag strap and carry you around." Finn faltered a bit. "Erm, if you don't mind, that is."

"No, I probably will need it." Athena replied with a metallic sigh. "Clip me on."

"Best part is, it's magnetic." Finn walked closer to Athena. "Do you want to watch my back, or look over my shoulder?"

"Over the shoulder please. I like to see where I'm going." Athena requested.

"Gotcha." The teen attached the magnet to the front of her sheath, the magnet clicking on soundly. Something told him that it wouldn't come off for a while, but hopefully that was fine. He attached the clip to his bag strap and slung his bag around his body. Athena's gem eye peeked just over his shoulder, her sash hanging down behind his right arm. "Alright, here we go."

Finn set out on the road. It was certainly earlier than the usual ten in the morning, probably because his nightmare woke him up at five A.M.

That wasn't the first nightmare he had ever had, although it was the most real one. Never before had his dreams been so terrifying.

Maybe it had something to do with Athena? Ghost, psychic, fairy, and dark types could all influence dreams. But the Aegislash line was among the ghost types that couldn't affect dreams at all, even though they could – and did - place themselves in some dreams. Clarent had done that quite a lot while his mother was raising it. Xollen had to blanket the Aegislash's power with its own in order to get the ghost sword to leave Finn alone.

It suddenly occurred to Finn that he was walking in circles.

"Yeah… I was wondering when you would notice." Athena commented, sliding out of her sheath a bit to get a better view. "Something is messing with us."

"Messing with me, more like." Finn muttered in response, looking around. The Misdreavus didn't usually try to attack him this close to the city. Come to that, it had never actually attacked him before. It had screwed with his path, but it hadn't attacked. Perhaps it was just more confident now, and wanted to mess with the first person who came out of the city.

"Not just messing with you." Athena added, sliding up a bit more. "Look out!"

An orb of luminous purple energy launched out of the trees. Finn ducked under it as it slammed into a tree, leaving a large chunk of wood just missing. "Really have no idea why it's called _shadow_ ball if it glows."

"Is this really the time to talk about semantics?" Athena practically screamed in his ear, her metallic voice panicked.

"Screaming doesn't help when you have an angry illusion maker after you." Finn replied smoothly, dodging another shadow ball. "Although usually it doesn't attack."

"Only usually?"

"It never attacks." The human clarified, pulling his flashlight out of his bag and shining it into the forest.

A pair of red eyes stared back at him, three glowing red orbs just below it. It was clearly the same creature as the Misdreavus that tormented him, but someone must have brought a dusk stone through the area. Its form was more humanoid, with a conical shape above its eyes and a frilled skirt composing its nether regions.

The Misdreavus had evolved.

And it was clearly testing its new power on him.

Leaves began to rise off the forest floor, each glowing with energy. The ghost type cackled and launched a barrage of leaves at Finn.

He dropped his flashlight and dropped to the ground, causing the magical leaf attack over his head. "This is gonna be bad."

"Why?" Athena asked. "It missed."

"Magical leaf doesn't miss." The human muttered, pushing himself to his feet and running towards the ditch. "But it can hit the wrong target."

With a running leap, Finn jumped into the ditch and rolled. A tree on the edge of the ditch splintered as dozens of magically empowered leaves sliced through its bark. Finn sighed in relief. "See?"

The Mismagius cackled again and floated over him, staring down with disdain in its eyes. Leaves began to float off the ground, enveloped in colored light. The malicious ghost type began to laugh, its eyes glowing purple as it used its strange powers.

Glowing leaves launched at Finn, all of them holding a razor sharp edge as the magical powers within them homed in on the human.

 _Shing!_

Finn blinked in surprise, looking up at the still floating leaf tatters as the Mismagius looked at him in surprise.

He blinked again and looked at his right arm. Wrapped around his forearm was a blue cloth, winding its way up to his wrist. At his wrist it met the metal pommel of a sword, the grip of said sword held tight in his right hand. Right where the grip met the cross-guard, there was a blue gemstone that looked like an eye. It looked like the eye was staring at him.

"Well then?!" Athena demanded, her eye wide. "You're holding a sword, use it!"

"I- what?!" Finn asked in confusion.

"Oh for the love of…" The Honedge muttered, pulling his arm down.

It was weird and disconcerting, having someone else control his right arm. Especially since he hadn't been able to use his whole arm for most of his life.

Then the world vanished in darkness.

The darkness was everywhere, a void where nothing could see or live. It was like the world was consumed by shadow, like all was destroyed. There was no heat, no cold in the void; it was just stasis. He was floating in the darkness for an indeterminate amount of time.

When he left the void, the Mismagius was directly in front of him, its back turned towards the human. Athena tugged his arm forwards, her blade plunging into the ghost type's back. The Mismagius cried out in pain and rage, then vanished entirely.

"Wh-what just happened…?" Finn asked, his hands shaking. His right arm went up over his back and slid Athena back into her sheath with a click. Her sash unwound itself from around his arm and hung loosely behind his arm. Just like that, his right arm was dangling uselessly at his side like usual.

"We beat it." Athena stated calmly.

"But- how?!" Finn sputtered, looking down at his shaking hands.

"I figured that a little possession to save your life would be OK." Athena explained. "So I got your hand to grab my hilt so we could battle together. Um, you really need to learn how to use a sword."

"O-ok then. G-gotcha." Finn stuttered, his whole body shaking. "We- we need to get to P-Professor Aspen's. N-now."

"Finn, are you okay?" Athena asked, concern obvious in her voice.

"N-not quite. J-just get me to Aspen's." The human fell to his knees, his whole body shaking unsteadily. "You can sh-shadow sneak, that's what y-you did earlier, right? Just… get me along the r-road to the building at the end. Domed roof, b-big fence."

The world vanished in darkness once, twice, three times more; each time was shorter than the last. As they reached Aspen's home, the glass doors slid open and Nero came out leading Sera and Professor Aspen to Finn.

"You didn't take your medicine, did you?" Aspen asked with a sigh.

"N-nope… I'm an-" Finn gulped, his vision fading. "I'm an idiot."

Finn's vision faded out to several concerned faces looking down at him.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **We're getting into the action here.**

 **As always, please review and let me know what you think.**


	5. Getting Ready

Procrastination is a dangerous thing.

Have you ever heard the phrase 'If you want something done, give it to a busy man'?

This is because a busy person will work on all of their projects without fail in order to finish sooner, while an unoccupied person will put it off. All human beings procrastinate, even if they refuse to admit it.

When you procrastinate, it almost always leads to problems.

Such as putting off taking your medicine.

Finn coughed a couple times and sat up, looking around. He was in a bed with clean linens, in a room that was largely undecorated. His bag was set on a chair to the side, the main pocket open. Athena was floating at the table, the sheath mount still attached to her metal sheath. On the table was a book, and the Honedge was periodically turning the page, reading through the book at a steady rate.

"H-hey Athena." Finn greeted, his voice hoarse. "What's up?"

The Honedge jumped and turned around. "You're alive!"

"Are you gonna do that every time I wake up?" Finn asked weakly, managing a chuckle. "I mean, I get that you don't exactly expect me to speak directly behind you, but just because I passed out doesn't mean I'm dead."

"Sorry…" Athena shrank back a bit. "I'm just glad you're alright."

"Believe me, so am I." Finn replied, swinging his legs off of the bed. "Dang I screwed up."

"What exactly happened?" Athena inquired, concern in her voice.

"It's nothing. Something genetic. It's not a problem if I take my medicine." Finn dismissed. "…Which I forgot to do."

"I'd say."

Finn looked over to the door to see Professor Aspen standing there with a disapproving look on her face. "Hey Professor…"

"Don't you 'hey Professor' me young man. You've been skipping your medication, haven't you?" Aspen scolded. "You know what happens if you skip on your medicine."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Seizures, black outs, migraines, and random loss of consciousness." Finn listed irritatedly. "Look, I'm fine. It was just the unexpected strain of shadow sneaking and the fact that the Misdreavus in the forest evolved and attacked me."

"Finn, when was the last time you took your meds?" Aspen asked sternly.

"Couple days." The teen answered dismissively, going to stand up.

"Finnegan. Answer me specifically." The Professor demanded, her hands on her hips. "I know it's been more than two days."

"…A week."

"A week, Finnegan?! A week?!" Aspen seemed simultaneously angry and worried. "How did you go without your medicine for a week and not expect to have a blackout?!"

Athena looked back and forth between Finn and Professor Aspen. "Finn, why do you need medicine?"

"It's just to keep myself from having seizures and blackouts." Finn replied, waving her off.

Professor Aspen looked between Finn and Athena. "You can understand her, can't you?"

"Yup. No translator or talker devices either." Finn answered, trying to change the subject.

"Whatever. We'll talk about that later. What's important is your health." Professor Aspen produced a bottle of pills and set it on Finn's bedside table. "You _will_ take your medicine, and you will take it daily. I'll let all of the Pokémon centers know about this, so you just need to register your trainer card with them in order to get a restock."

"Professor, I don't need the medicine." Finn complained.

"You say that every time you need me to care for you, and that only happens because you don't take your medicine!" Aspen said sternly. "Finn, if you don't take your medicine, you'll have seizures, blackouts, sudden weakness, migraines, and complete inability to use anything! And even if you do take your medicine, you'll still-"

She was cut off by Finn shaking his head vehemently, and sighed. "You'll still experience periodic weakness and an inability to think at times."

A lame finish, but one that Finn was OK with. He didn't want Athena to hear the whole story. "I know. I'll make sure to take my medicine in the future."

"Please, do." Aspen said, defeated. She turned to Athena. "Make sure he takes his medicine, OK?"

"Gee, trusting my Pokémon more than me. I love your confidence in me." Finn commented dryly.

"Considering your track record, I think I've made the right choice." Aspen shot back.

"…I deserved that."

"Too right you did."

Athena just looked back between Finn and Professor Aspen. "I'm… a little confused."

"We should probably get on with why I came here in the first place." Finn muttered, standing up. "A lot happened since the last time I visited."

"The last time you visited was two days ago." Aspen replied. "What all has changed?"

So Finn had been unconscious for at least a day. Good to know. "For starters, I have a Pokémon now. That was the primary reason I came here."

Professor Aspen gestured for Finn and Athena to follow her, and started walking through the hallway. "You know that a Pokémon is more than just a tool, correct?"

"I'm not a Rocket. I know." Finn replied, nodding. Team Rocket was a globally known criminal organization. Fortunately, they had recently fallen into incompetency, meaning that the only times Rockets actually managed to commit crimes was when there was literally nobody to fight against them. Rumor had it a trainer in the Kanto region defeated their leader in a Pokémon battle, causing the man to go into hiding to hone his skills. Without the tactical brilliance of their leader, Team Rocket was more or less useless.

Of course, Team Rocket weren't the only criminal organization to plague the earth. There were the eco-terrorist groups Team Magma and Team Aqua. Those two groups had tried to completely destroy the Hoenn region, the former by causing volcanic activity in the already heavily volcanic region. The latter was really misguided; they believed that, by causing endless rainstorms, the ocean levels would rise. The two groups were stopped by a trio of trainers that managed to gain possession of the red and blue orbs and send Groudon and Kyogre back into their hibernating states.

Then there was Team Galactic, a particularly nasty group headed by the ruthless Cyrus. Cyrus was a madman who believed that by conjuring the legendary Pokémon Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, he could make a new world entirely. While he wasn't wrong, the process would cause the world to fall apart, killing everyone. His goals were never realized at all, due to Giratina pulling him into its home realm, the alternate distortion world. A brave trainer had followed Cyrus into the distortion world, and somehow got out again.

Kalos had the Flares. Team Flare was probably more dangerous than even Team Galactic, with their leader being an enigmatic man known as Lysandre. The goals of Team Flare was to activate and fire a mysterious 'super weapon' hidden under the ancient Geosenge town. According to rumor, they almost succeeded. At the last moment in their plans, however, the legendary Pokémon that they were trying to power the device with escaped, supposedly killing Lysandre.

Lastly, there was Team Plasma. Plasma was, at the same time, the most supported and the most reviled group. Four years ago Team Plasma was headed by a mysterious teen known only as N, who supposedly could understand all Pokémon. He had managed to obtain the dark stone, known to give the holder access to Zekrom, so long as they held their ideals close to their heart. After defeating the Pokémon league of Unova, N claimed his role as champion, then vanished entirely. Two years after, Team Plasma resurfaced as a purely criminal organization, instead of their previous supposed role as a group of 'Pokémon liberators'. Using a large ice type Pokémon of immense power, this new Team Plasma terrorized the Unova region, until N returned and took them down. N's current whereabouts were unknown, as well as the location of the actual leader, a manipulative strategist by the name of Ghetsis.

Funnily enough, Team Plasma was still around, although they were far from large in number. Nowadays they played the role of public protestors, the silvery hooded costumes well known to everyone. They were a nuisance, but they were legally allowed to continue their public protests.

"I'm well aware you're not a Rocket. If I thought you were, I'd have Sera scour your mind for evidence." Aspen retorted. "But you must take care of your Pokémon. All of them have their strengths and weaknesses, even ghosts."

"I get it, I had a Riolu for four years when I was a little kid. I think I'll be fine." Finn dismissed.

"You probably don't remember, but your mother had a Metagross when you were younger. It died despite her expert care." Aspen glared at him over her shoulder. "Just keep in mind that every Pokémon has strengths and weaknesses."

That was for sure. Every type had great advantages over the others, while at the same time they had incredible weaknesses.

For example, Normal types had the least weaknesses and strengths, being good all around without any outstanding benefits. Fighting types were more powerful both spiritually and physically than humans were, and tended to be of similar intellect. On the downside, they tired quickly, had weak mental barriers to hold off psychic types, and their lifespans were usually shorter than those of humans.

Psychic types were often physically weak, with incredible mental abilities and intellect. Psychics were capable of things like teleportation, telekinesis, all of them could do telepathy, and some were precognitive. Their typical lifespans were the same as humans, and they were also at least as intelligent as humans. The major weakness of psychics was that they all had irrational fears. The dark, ghosts, and insects were all fears that the mental powers of psychics amplified.

Dark types were immune to mental intrusion of all types, and they possessed the ability to ward off the supernatural. However, they tended to be physically brittle, leading to an incredible weakness to fighting types. Bug type Pokémon also tended to have a leg up on dark types. With the shortest lifespans on average, bug types tended to only live a couple decades at most. However, they were the most populous Pokémon, and they had the ability to sometimes invade the opponent's mind in a manner that psychics and darks were both vulnerable to.

Fairy types weighed far less than they physically should, and they had access to magic. Not flat out rituals, but energy that was different from ghosts and psychics. Fairy types had no poison resistances, and being in contact with iron or steel could cause them to become extremely sick. Steel types, while completely immune to poisons, got the most deadly diseases; most of them involving rust. A steel type that didn't die from one of the innumerable deadly diseases exclusive to their type often lived long lives. Poison types, on the other hand, were completely immune to disease due to the toxic nature of their bodies. On the other hand, however, poison types often experience organ failure.

Flying types all had some capability of flight, but they traded it for brittle bones and the inability to survive lightning strikes. They tended to be the most physically fast, however. Electric types could generate massive amounts of electricity biologically, but that electricity meant that they were the type with the most mental disorders, with psychic and dark falling just behind. Ground types could survive for long periods of time with no water at all, but they didn't have much mobility off the ground, and they couldn't swim.

Water types could breathe under water, as well as generating clean water in their own bodies. But their internal water reservoirs made them more susceptible to electric attacks, and they almost always developed allergies. Grass types were incredibly difficult to injure permanently, as they could all regenerate in sunlight to some degree. They also grew to their physical adulthood faster than all but bug types. There were many things that could cause them great harm however, leading to them avoiding extreme heat and cold, insects, poison types, and birds. Fire types could tolerate extreme heat, down to swimming in lava. However, almost no fire types were capable of swimming.

Ice types were the opposite, they could withstand extreme cold, with seemingly no limit. They could also create ice in the most heated of environments, even if it was only for short periods of time. However, their heat tolerance was almost nonexistent. Rock types had very durable bodies, being very difficult to injure by normal means. However, like grass types, there were many things that could bypass their resistances.

Dragon types and ghost types were the longest lived of all. Dragon types often lived for multiple centuries, amassing incredible reservoirs of power in the process. But dragon types were cold blooded, and extremely vulnerable to the unique magic of fairies. Otherwise, though, the only thing that could match a dragon was another dragon.

Likewise with ghosts. Ghost types are arguably the strongest type, with the ability to access psychic powers, turn completely intangible and insubstantial, many could levitate, and almost all could steal souls. Many could also turn invisible, or teleport. Dark types had an advantage over ghosts due to their heavy resistance to the supernatural, even though fairy magics could bypass that resistance. What made the strength of ghost types so arguable was that they could do very little when in the presence of a religious emblem. Simply wearing the crest of Arceus was enough to give almost guaranteed ghost protection.

There were, of course, exceptions. Some of the exceptions completely defied the norm.

"Finn? Finn!"

Finn shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts. "Huh?"

"You kind of zoned out there. Are you listening?" Professor Aspen asked.

"Sorry, where were we?" Finn shook his head again, trying to focus.

"I was just telling you that you need to make certain that your Honedge doesn't rust. You need to sharpen her edge daily, and you need to clean her after combat." Aspen explained. "If she does rust, you risk letting it spread to her brain. She may be a ghost type, but even ghost types can die."

"You won't let me rust, will you Finn?" Athena asked, looking at him.

"No, I would never let that happen." Finn replied. "If you wound up rusting, I'd never forgive myself."

"Thank you." Athena floated over and huddled against him.

"So, you can understand her. How does that work?" Aspen inquired, pushing open the doors to the lab.

"I wish I knew. It's not the only strange thing to have happened. She wrapped her sash around my arm twice now, and said arm is no longer paralyzed." Finn muttered.

"Roserade!"

A little white haired figure walked up to Finn and Professor Aspen, gesturing wildly at Athena. "Rade! Roserade!"

Athena giggled. "Yes, I'm Finn's Pokémon now."

"Well Professor, I can safely say that I can only understand Athena." Finn remarked, kneeling down to Nero's level. "How're you doing buddy?"

"Rade!" Nero happily replied.

"He's happy that you're alright. He also says that there's something different about you, but he can't place it." Athena translated. "He also says that Sera was worried. Who's Sera?"

As if on cue, the Gothitelle entered the lab from another room. In her hands was a tray with multiple syringes on it.

"Sera! We are not using those!" Aspen scolded, shooing the psychic type out of the room. "I swear, her only goal in life is to torture Finn."

"I, uh, won't contest that." Finn muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "So… what're we doing?"

"First, I'm going to check to see if your arm is actually healed. If it is, you should be able to feel pain in it, as well as move your fingers." Aspen explained.

"Okay then." Finn walked forwards and stuck his arm out.

Almost before he could see it, she pricked his arm with a needle, causing him to flinch. "Confirmation, nerves are healed."

"Can you move your fingers at all?" The Professor asked, putting the needle away and grabbing a bandage.

Finn concentrated. He had never moved his right hand for the first fourteen years of his life, and now it took a great amount of effort to even twitch them. "Barely."

"Hmm…" Aspen reached into a drawer and pulled out a Pokéball belt. "Put this on, I'll be back with some Pokéballs soon, along with something for your hand."

"Um… ok." Finn replied, putting the belt on. Something for his hand? Like what? Cybernetics?

"Roserade!" Nero announced, walking over to Finn and poking him in the leg.

"Gonna need someone to translate for ya buddy. I don't speak Pokémon. Except Honedge, apparently." Finn commented.

"He said that he wants to go with you on your Pokémon adventure." Athena translated.

"While I appreciate your offer Nero, I can't bring you along in good conscience. You're already a trained Pokémon, and it would be unfair to any Pokémon I catch if I bring you and don't train them." Finn declined. "Besides, Professor Aspen needs your help here."

"Rade?" Nero asked, tilting his head.

"If I need your help, I'll let the Professor know. I can contact her through any Pokémon center, after all." The human assured. "And if I get into any trouble, Athena will be there to shadow sneak me out."

"Roserade!" The plantlike creature nodded and smiled up at Finn.

"Okay, here we are." Professor Aspen announced, returning to the lab room. In one hand was a strange device that seemed composed of foam and a single spring, in the other hand were six minimized Pokéballs.

"What's that thing?" Finn asked, pointing at the odd thing in her hand.

"This is to strengthen your hand." She demonstrated by squeezing against the spring. "I don't expect you to be able to use it for a while, maybe a month or two, but when you begin to develop muscle again, you should use this daily until your right hand is as good as your left."

"Okay then." Finn muttered, taking the spring device. He placed it in his right hand and concentrated, barely managing to even close his fingers around it. "Yeah, gonna be a while before that works."

"And, of course, here are your Pokéballs." Aspen handed over the minimized orbs. In the minimized form, they were only a centimeter in diameter, but they could be expanded to the size of a baseball with the click of a button. Clicking the button not only enlarged the Pokéball, but linked it directly to your willpower, making it possible to catch a wild Pokémon and to command a Pokémon in battle.

Finn slipped the exercise device into his pocket and took the Pokéballs, putting five into the specialized container on his belt and enlarging the sixth. "You ready for this Athena?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Athena replied, readying herself.

He threw the Pokéball sidearm, causing it to spin through the air and bounce off of Athena's cross-guard. With a deafening noise, the Honedge transformed into formless white energy that flowed into the Pokéball like water. The red and white sphere fell to the ground, the button on the front blinking red. After a couple moments, the Pokéball clicked and emitted a yellow light from the button. Finn grinned and walked over to pick the ball up.

With the flick of his wrist, Finn threw the Pokéball in the air to release Athena. "Ta-da!"

"Was that really necessary?" Athena asked, slightly irritated.

"Entirely." Finn answered seriously, before breaking out into a goofy grin.

"Grow up." Athena sighed.

"Oh, and you're older than me? For some reason I doubt that." Finn retorted, still grinning.

"Well, if the two of you are done bickering, it should be time for you to leave." Aspen interjected, picking up Finn's bag and handing it over to him. "The sheath mount is still clipped on. Clever thinking there. She's still young, and according to Sera she was hit by multiple lightning strikes. Her levitation capability may be faulty."

"Gotcha. C'mon Athena, you can ride." Finn put his bag strap around his body. It was entirely possible for him to access battle items, spare Pokéballs, Athena's Pokéball, and his flashlight all with his left hand.

Athena floated over and attached herself to the magnetic sheath mount with a click, her eye looking over his shoulder. "Let's get this show on the road."

"Too right!" Finn pointed to the doors. "Onwards! To victory!"

Still goofing off, Finn ran outside, laughing the whole while.

Professor Aspen watched him go and sighed. "I just hope he doesn't wind up getting into trouble."

"Roserade."

"I know." The Professor sighed again. "I'm more worried for whoever he runs into…"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Finn's fine, I promise. Just so long as he stays on his meds.**

 **I know this chapter's exposition heavy, but it seemed to be the best way to do it.**

 **As always, please review and let me know what you think.**


	6. Tell Everybody I'm On My Way

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

In reality, the journey of a thousand miles should begin with stocking up food, packing supplies, and making sure you have clean underwear. The start of a journey isn't the first step you take out of your home, but the moment you decide that you are, in fact, going on a journey.

It was on the road to Teret City, home of the normal type gym and the Pokémon ranger faction in the Toreta region, that Finn finally realized that he was actually doing this.

He was actually going on an adventure to catch Pokémon and challenge the Pokémon league.

What had brought on this sudden revelation?

Everything had been fine for the first several hours. He had left in the morning, and it was still the first day. Finn had been fortunate enough – or unfortunate enough, depends on your point of view – to not run into any other trainers. He and Athena had stopped under a tree for lunch. Professor Aspen had stocked his bag with Pokémon food, as well as the human food he had forgotten to pack back in the city. It wasn't anything fancy, just dehydrated meals along with a small stove to heat water with; as well as some dry foods that wouldn't go bad even if they sat for a year.

Lunch was a small bowl of Pokémon food and some granola. Finn had accidentally opened the Pokémon food first, and the result had been him gagging and spitting. It turned out that while humans could eat Pokémon food, their taste buds were very much NOT accustomed to it.

What was accustomed to it was the Vespiquen that had been living in the tree branches above them.

The bug type had hovered directly above the duo for some time, most likely not descending due to the fact that it didn't like Finn, just like almost every other Pokémon he had encountered. Its wings were nearly silent, but Finn noticed the bee Pokémon almost immediately due to the Combee that flocked around it.

With slow and unthreatening movements, Finn scanned the Vespiquen and the Combee that buzzed around her.

[Combee]

[Tiny Bee Pokémon]

[Type: Bug/Flying]

[Ability: Honey Gather. Combee often buzz around and collect honey. This ability has no combat effect.]

[Gender: Male]

[A Pokémon that is actually composed of three smaller Pokémon, Combee will constantly gather honey to bring back to their queen. At night, they will gather in a cluster to sleep and protect the queen. Female Combee have a red mark on their foreheads, and always have two males protecting them.]

[Vespiquen]

[Beehive Pokémon]

[Type: Bug/Flying]

[Ability: Pressure. This Pokémon is imposing, and may cause its opponent to use more energy than usual in its attacks.]

[Gender: Female]

[The queen of a hive of Combee, Vespiquen are almost always accompanied by multiple of the smaller bees. Its abdomen section is hollow, and houses the Vespiquen's offspring. These offspring will eventually grow up to be Combee.]

"Huh. That's interesting." Finn commented, putting his Pokédex away and looking up at the Vespiquen. "Wonder what she wants with us."

"Who?" Athena asked, looking around.

"Look up."

The Honedge tilted backwards to look up, and her eye widened. "We need to leave."

"Why? We're not bothering her, she's not bothering us." Finn shrugged. "Heck, maybe we can befriend her."

"We can't befriend her because her hive is right in this tree." Athena picked up her food bowl, dumped the rest of her food on the ground, and started to levitate away. "She is not happy."

"Where are you going?" Finn demanded incredulously.

"Away, before things get bad." Athena replied, putting the food bowl in Finn's bag. "We should leave immediately."

"I still don't see the problem." Finn muttered, finishing his granola bar and putting the wrapper in a plastic bag he had set aside for that purpose.

Just then, the Vespiquen let out an angry buzz and floated down to stare Finn straight in the eye. Her red orbs glaring straight into his hazel eyes. The Combee surrounding her began to take up her angry buzz, and before long the air was filled with the sound of irritated insects.

"Finn?"

"Yeah?"

"Run."

The human burst into a sprint, picking up his bag and slinging it around his body as he ran. He reached out with his right hand to Athena, who quickly wrapped her sash around his arm to take control. With the steel type in hand, Finn's right arm whipped back to put her on the magnetic sheath mount. "Stay there. We're just running."

And that was how, as he ran down the road to Teret City, Finn realized that this was more than just a little campout. He was going to have to be fully self-sufficient now.

An angry buzz alerted Finn to the fact that there was an irritated living bee hive still chasing him. "Athena, do you know how to do any long range abilities?"

In response, the Honedge let out an ear-rending screech. Finn was glad he wasn't the main target, although the pitch of the sound still made him wish that he was deaf. "OK, metal sound. Gotcha. Any other tricks up your sleeve?"

"I can try making consecutive strikes on the same spot." Athena suggested, sliding out of her sheath all the way, and, using her sash to hold herself to Finn's shoulder, turned herself around to look back at the Vespiquen. "Although it's a tactic used mostly by bug types. It may not work."

"Fury cutter? Probably not the best idea to use that on a bug type." Finn replied. "Is that all?"

"Swords dance."

"Ok, so you've got one move that's literally useless in official battles, one that's absurdly useful everywhere, one that's good for your whole lifespan, and a move that becomes insanely strong after five repetitions." Finn muttered. "Well, not the best set of moves, but better than most starters."

"I'd like to see you do better." Athena retorted.

"Not the time to argue." Finn shot back, ducking as a poisonous needle shot over his head. "Fighting a Vespiquen is only going to lead to issues. Fighting each other will only make the Vespiquen kill us. Can you, like, negotiate with her?"

"After knocking her off balance with a sound wave, I doubt it." The Honedge said with a sigh.

"Just use metal sound repeatedly until we get away." Finn replied. "Hopefully we can-!"

He cut himself off with a cry of dismay as he tripped over a tree root. Finn twisted so that he landed on his shoulder instead of his face, and looked up at the rapidly approaching insect. "Umm."

"Aquilon! Ice beam!"

An arcing beam of light blue energy shot through the air, freezing the Vespiquen solid. The frozen bug fell to the ground with a _clunk_. Finn looked at the source of the beam, a massive blue reptilian creature with large frills extending from the top of its head down its long neck. All along its flanks were blue crystals that appeared to be made of ice. Standing next to the creature was a middle-aged man wearing a blue vest, his blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.

"Well done Aquilon." The man complimented, patting the large Pokémon's side. The massive creature trilled in appreciation. "So, what did you do to anger a Vespiquen?"

"I sat down within a mile radius." Finn muttered, standing up and brushing himself off. "Thanks for freezing it."

"We should get going. She'll thaw out soon enough, and believe me, we don't want to be here when she defrosts." The man smiled. "Do you have any Pokémon with you? In case that happens again, of course."

"Apparently I'm invisible." Athena said, sliding out of her sheath and turning back around.

"Yeah, my Honedge." Finn answered the man, ignoring Athena's complaints. "But having a Honedge doesn't help much when a fully grown Vespiquen is chasing you."

"Come with me. There's a waystation just up ahead. The rangers run it. Maybe they can solve the problem of the Vespiquen randomly attacking you." The man invited. The small party set off down the road. "So, what's your name?"

"Finn." The teen answered, looking back at the frozen Vespiquen. Now that the conflict was over, he was worried that it might be injured.

"Tyson." The man introduced himself. He glanced at Finn. "You're the Ferris kid, aren't you?"

"Um… do I know you?" Finn asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nah, you probably wouldn't remember me. I'm a good friend of your parents, but I haven't seen you since you were little." Tyson chuckled. "You still have that Riolu you were so fond of?"

Finn stopped in his tracks, racking his memory. This guy knew his parents, had visited when he was young, and knew about Sparks. Not only that, but he had a powerful Pokémon that was clearly an ice type, and he was probably an extremely experienced trainer. He was at least thirty-five, which meant that he had probably visited Finn around nine years ago. Not to mention the fact that he was laid-back and charismatic.

"You're the ice type elite four." Finn stated softly. "The specialist who relies mostly upon his Aurorus."

Tyson gave him an approving look. "Well done. Most of the people I run across don't figure it out. Of course, most people don't have your parents."

"Most people haven't been researching the Pokemon gyms and the elite four for the past four years either." Finn replied. "What's an elite doing out here?"

"Visiting family." Tyson explained, his laid back smile still on his face. "Ma's a Pokémon ranger stationed just ahead. She wouldn't quit for the world, she loves Pokémon."

"Where'd you get your Aurorus, exactly?" Finn asked. "I heard that they were extinct, and have been for hundreds of years."

"Ah, that would be because Ma found Aquilon's fossil." Tyson reached out and pat the large creature's flank. "There was a large cave just east of here, filled to the brim with fossils and gemstones. It's where most of Toreta gets their evolutionary stones. It's also home to a large slew of Pokémon, from Baltoy to Sableye. Rumors are circulating that Regirock lives in there, but we've mapped every inch of the place, and there are no legendary Pokémon in there." The ice type specialist nodded at Athena. "There are also many Honedge in there, and deeper down there are Doublade and Aegislash as well. It's sort of the ultimate challenge for any trainer, which is probably why Ma went in to the bottom level and brought out a sail fossil."

"So is your mother a skilled trainer, or just very brave?" Finn interrupted with a chuckle.

"Trainer? No." Tyson shook his head. "She's a ranger. While they befriend Pokémon, it's notably different from how trainers do it. I can't really explain, but they gain a Pokémon's loyalty without using Pokéballs."

"Sorry, carry on."

"Right, anyways, Professor Aspen has a device in her lab that was designed in the Hoenn region by Devon co. that can revive fossils back to life." Tyson reached up and gently stroked the Aurorus' sails. "Aquilon's been with me since."

"Oh! That reminds me, Professor Aspen gave me a Pokédex to fill with data from as many different species as possible." Finn dug the device out of his pocket and held it up. "Um, may I?"

"Go right ahead. I understand." Tyson acquiesced.

[Aquilon]

[Aurorus]

[Tundra Pokémon]

[Type: Rock/Ice]

[Ability: Refrigerate. Moves that are normally classified as normal type are like ice type moves when used by this Pokémon.]

[Gender: Male]

[The crystals on its body act as a focus for its power. Aurorus are able to lower temperatures by hundreds of degrees, instantly creating ice in whatever formation the Pokémon chooses.]

"Huh. That's a really interesting ability. I've never heard of refrigerate before." Finn commented, putting his Pokédex away.

"Yeah, Aurorus and its pre evolution Amaura are the only Pokémon to have that ability normally." Tyson grinned. "It can make battles interesting. So Torina Aspen trusted you with a Pokedex, huh?"

"Yeah. She's known me since I was an infant." Finn scratched the back of his head. "Um… it wasn't random, you know."

"What wasn't?" The elite asked.

"The Vespiquen attacking me. I swear I didn't do anything to tick her off, but it wasn't an accident." Finn sighed. "Pokémon just don't like me for whatever reason."

"Aquilon likes you, as does your Honedge. If it didn't trust you, you'd have been strangled, drained of life energy, and probably decapitated." Tyson pointed out.

"Yeah, but I helped her in a thunder storm. Steel types just draw lightning during natural storms." Finn explained. "And she almost did drain me of my life energy." Finn held up his right arm, showing the winding scar. "Probably just lucky I'm a cripple, or something."

Aquilon's long neck snaked over, the Aurorus' head looking at Finn's arm. "Rooor…"

"I didn't mean to…" Athena replied to the reptile. "It was an accident..."

"Auroor!" Aquilon looked at Athena, his nose bumping the Honedge's grip.

"Heh, seems like they're getting along." Tyson remarked, chuckling. "So, where you headed?"

"Teret City." Finn answered. "I'm going for the Pokémon league, and I figured that with a ghost type as my first Pokémon, fighting a normal type gym is my best bet."

"Don't think that it'll be easy because you have a ghost type." Tyson warned. "Many normal types can learn dark type moves, and there are moves that remove Ghost type's immunities."

"Oh." Finn stopped, looking down at the ground. "Right."

"Hey, having a ghost type is still a major strength against a normal or a fighting type. Especially since it's also a steel type. Your only real issues would come from any dark type moves they have access to." The elite shrugged. "Personally, I think you'll do good. But I suggest catching another Pokémon before you attempt to take on the gym."

"Thanks for the advice." Finn said with a nod.

"Being an elite means helping out new trainers." Tyson replied. "Although I'm pretty sure most of the people I meet here don't take my advice to heart. Then again, they don't really have much reason to. They never meet Aquilon, and I'm not exactly the most outstanding of the elite four. I'm pretty sure Aelius and Lee both draw more attention than me."

"Aelius the fire elite, and Lee the fighting elite." Finn recited.

"Yup. That's them. Lee's pretty difficult to miss. Guy never talks, but he's the most physically fit person on the planet. Aelius just has a super flashy outfit, what with the cape and the hair." Tyson made a mocking gesture. "Nik never goes out though. Always working on the next 'technological breakthrough'. I swear, some day that crazy scientist is going to wind up making something that explodes."

"Do all the elite make fun of each other like this?" Finn asked, grinning.

"Hell yeah." Tyson confirmed, a massive grin on his face. "Being one of the League sanctioned type specialists makes you part of the same family as the rest of us. Your mother's the watchful caretaker, Aelius is the eccentric older brother, I'm the chill uncle, and Nik is the crazy cousin that nobody really knows their relation to."

"What about Ada, the normal gym leader?" Finn inquired innocently.

"Trying to get an edge on her, huh?" Tyson laughed. "I don't blame you. She's the creative little sister who has a soft spot for fluffy animals."

"So… Lillipup? Eevee?"

"Hah, you're getting nothing out of me." Tyson wagged his finger. "I've already said too much. Anyways, I've told you some of our secrets. Only fair you let me know what your Honedge is capable of."

"Typical Honedge things. Swords dance, fury cutter. She also knows shadow sneak and metal sound, probably from one of her parents." Finn answered.

"Four moves? Just enough to use the same things every battle." Tyson shrugged. "I mean, it's not the worst setup. Metal sound is nearly useless in a regulated battle, at least until she evolves and learns some special moves, like shadow ball."

"Right. Only four moves allowed in a single given battle. Using more disqualifies you." Finn nodded. "And metal sound has already helped with the Vespiquen."

"You had her use metal sound on that Vespiquen?" Tyson raised an eyebrow. "Not the wisest move if you're trying to avoid battle. Didn't you say she was after you for no reason?"

"She was already chasing us." Finn muttered, shrugging. "So, how far off is this waystation?"

"We should see some rangers soon. They've been patrolling a larger area since Team Plasma showed up in Teret City."

"Plasmas showed up in Teret City?" Finn asked, slightly worried.

"Just the more… public ones. The ones with the silvery faux chainmail clothing." The elite chuckled. "They've never been a problem in the Toreta region before, but better safe than sorry."

"What exactly do you mean by the more public ones?" Finn cocked his head in curiosity.

"As best we've been able to tell –we being the gym leaders and elites- Team Plasma has two different groups. There's the public speaking group with the silvery 'chainmail'. Then there's the Pokémon thieves who claim to be part of Team Plasma, and they wear black." Tyson explained. "The ones in silver are actually not that bad. Most people treat them like a glorified news service, Team Plasma still tries to persuade people to treat their Pokémon better, but they generally just shout recent events out to the whole city." He laughed. "For those of us who are too lazy to subscribe to newspaper companies or just don't have a television, it's a slightly more entertaining method of learning the news than asking someone else."

There was the rustle of leaves, and a voice called out from in one of the trees to the side of the road. "You there! State your names and- oh, hey Ty."

"Hey Rob. This is Finnegan Ferris, he's going to be staying at the waystation with us for tonight." Tyson waved. "Let Ma know we've got two more for dinner, one's a Honedge."

"Gotcha man. C'mon Zeph." Robbie replied. A large bird flew out of the tree, a human hanging on to one of its claws. The bird carried the human off down the road, and the two were quickly out of sight.

"What… just happened?" Finn asked, looking at Tyson with a confused expression.

"That's Robert, he's one of the scouts in the ranger organization. His job is to take out poachers, thieves, and other unlawful travelers. His Pokémon is Zephyr, a Pidgeot." Tyson explained. "He's a cool guy, although he takes his job too far most of the time."

"If he didn't take his job that far, we wouldn't have caught those poachers last week."

Tyson's face broke out into a grin. "Hey Ma, how's it going."

An elderly woman riding on the back of a large headed Pokémon came into view.

"Still hanging around with the other fossils?" Tyson joked, grinning mischievously.

"Bulwark is better company than you, and more polite." The old woman shot back, smiling just as much. She scratched the back of the massive reptile's head. "And I can trust him to do his chores."

"Ma, I can't be home to wash the dishes every night! I have to be up at the Pokémon League, in case a challenger makes it through Victory Road!" Tyson protested.

"You have that Cloyster, it knows how to teleport." His mother retorted. "Now tell me who your friend is."

"Tim doesn't use teleport often because it's exhausting…" Tyson muttered, barely audible. "This is Finnegan Ferris and his Honedge…"

"Athena." Finn supplied.

"Hah!" The elderly woman laughed. "Interesting choice of name, that. Well young mister Ferris, come on. Let's get you out of my son's presence before he turns you into a lazy oaf."

"Ma…" Tyson groaned.

"Well? Come on then!" The massive reptilian creature she was riding turned around and started back the way it came. "Dinner's macaroni and cheese."

The small party set off down the road.

"Athena?" Tyson asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Named after the ancient goddess of wisdom." Finn replied.

"Well, I named Aquilon after a god of winter." The elite shrugged and smiled. "Regardless, let's go meet the crew and eat dinner. Ma's the best."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Chapter title is based off of a song from the movie Brother Bear**

 **Now for some name origins!**

 **Tyson sounds like it has ice in it.** **Aelius is based off of Helios, the god of the sun.** **Nik is in reference to Nikola Tesla, an inventor who worked in electricity.** **Lee is in reference to Bruce Lee, one of the most well known martial artists to have lived.** **Aquilon is the roman god of the north wind.** **A bulwark is a barrier or protector.**

 **The region now has a name! Welcome to the Toreta region, home of a varied population of people and Pokémon!**

 **As always, please review and let me know what you think.**


	7. Harvest

How many people can remember the first Pokémon they caught?

That's not to say the first Pokémon they ever trained, but the first Pokémon they went out and actually threw a Pokéball at. The Pokémon that you probably had your Pokémon tackled until it was weak, then threw one of the red and white capture orbs.

For most people it was probably a Pidgey, or maybe another common Pokémon like a Rattata.

Or you were lucky and caught something rare. Maybe an Audino popped up just outside your home town, or a Ralts teleported and wound up in your face.

Or, maybe you were unlucky, and broke all five of the Pokéballs that you were given at the start of your journey. Doing something like that would result in your second Pokémon being something you caught later on, or maybe something given to you or traded for your starter. Sometimes it's something worthwhile. Usually, however, it's a Magikarp that can only use splash, effectively ending your career as a trainer.

Maybe you just haven't caught your second Pokémon yet.

Finn sighed and looked at the large bunch of grass in front of him. Last night had been fun, but at the same time it had been a rude awakening.

The rangers had been nice enough. Some of them were fun to chat with, such as Robert and Tyson's mother; and all of them were knowledgeable and polite. The humans of the waystation were all great to hang around with.

It was the Pokémon that weren't so nice.

Pokémon rangers always had a Pokémon that they bonded with, that they understood almost as well as the Pokémon understood them. That Pokémon could range from something as small as a Joltik to something as massive as a Tyranitar. For a ranger and their partner Pokémon, the language barrier was lessened considerably. It was still there, but Pokémon and ranger could communicate almost perfectly. This inevitably led to the ranger treating their Pokémon as an equal. It wasn't a bad thing, in most cases. But it did lead to ranger Pokémon being far braver with humans than their kin.

In Finn's case, this meant that instead of being scared, the Pokémon just flat out hated him.

His first official introduction to Zephyr the Pidgeot led to the large bird screeching in his face and trying to claw his eyes out. The only reason Finn managed to remain unharmed was because Tyson had told Aquilon to use an ice beam to keep the flying type back.

That had brought Finn to a conclusion. Pokémon that were more accustomed to humans, and more specifically battles, had a less violent reaction to his presence. This was proven when Bulwark, the Bastiodon that belonged to Tyson's mother, had tolerated him just fine. The reptile was old, even for a fossil Pokémon, and had been through all manner of combat.

Likewise, one ranger by the name of Sam had a Dragonite that his family had been passing down from parent to child for centuries. The Dragonite had sniffed Finn one time then left him alone, a vastly different reaction to how Zephyr had attacked him.

That was the only bad part, however.

As Tyson had promised, his mother's cooking was fantastic. It didn't matter that it was something as simple as macaroni and cheese, it still tasted amazing. It was quite a contrast to what Finn was used to. His own cooking skill extended only to putting something in the microwave, or adding boiling water; and Finn's mother was, admittedly, not that good at cooking.

Professor Aspen had told him that he would need to sharpen and clean Athena's blade daily, and that was what he had done for a solid thirty minutes. The Professor had provided him with a cleaning kit and a sharpening stone, both of which he very carefully used to maintain Athena's edge.

The highlight of the night had been meeting Rath.

Rath was a very, very old Gallade, and it showed. His cape was tattered, his face was scarred, and his green skin was a faded color. Yet anyone who thought that an old Gallade was weaker was incredibly mistaken. Gallade were among the longer lived Pokémon, living around a century and a half on average. Unlike most living beings, Gallade and Gardevoir didn't weaken with age, instead growing stronger and faster. The older the Gallade, the more formidable you could be sure they were.

Being a psychic type, Rath was able to communicate via telepathy, completely circumventing the language barrier between human and Pokémon. The Gallade didn't have a trainer anymore, but he was still friendly towards humans. A bit cold, but friendly nonetheless.

The only reason Finn had even met the Gallade was because Athena was trying to train him in how to use a sword.

"Foot placement is important, so keep your left foot forwards until you're ready to strike, then lunge." The Honedge instructed.

"Left foot forwards… then lunge…" Finn muttered, trying to do exactly as she said, only to trip over a tree root.

"Well…" Athena began, unwinding her sash from Finn's arm and floating up. "It could have been worse."

"How, exactly?" Finn asked, pushing himself up with his left arm. When Athena was controlling his right arm, it was useful, but she only ever did it when he was in trouble. Apparently possession had unknown side effects.

 _"You could have landed on her."_

Finn stiffened and looked around. That voice hadn't reached his ears, instead jumping straight into his brain. The sensation wasn't entirely new, but it was strange. "Who's there?"

 _"Don't fear. I am not malicious, though I do find your antics somewhat amusing."_ The psychic voice responded, accompanied by a tall green and white figure walking out of the forest. _"You may call me Rath. I couldn't help but notice your attempts at swordsmanship. A Honedge is a fine teacher that almost any would be willing to have, but yours is as yet inexperienced."_

"A Gallade…" Finn whispered in awe. "I didn't think there were any in the wild."

 _"There aren't."_ Rath replied. _"My master is, unfortunately, gone now. He was a fine warrior, however, and I learned much from him."_

"Who was your trainer?" Finn asked quietly.

 _"A swordsman in the age of firearms."_ Rath answered. _"He bid me keep his name secret in his dying breath, and I respect his wishes."_

"So… what brings a Gallade here?" Finn brushed himself off, removing leaves and dirt from his clothing.

"For some reason I suspect a psychic conversation has been going on, and I've been left out of the loop." Athena announced, looking from the Gallade to Finn and back.

 _"My apologies."_ Rath bowed. _"Greetings, lady Honedge. As for your question, sir, my master would have wanted me to find those who could use his knowledge. Right now, I am the only holder of that knowledge. My intent is to shift a portion of it to you."_

"Wait, so… you'll teach me how to use a sword?" Finn's eyes widened in surprise.

 _"Indeed. Transferring all of my skill to you at once would lead to disaster, a human mind cannot usually survive such an intensive psychic load. Instead, I will give to you a portion of my knowledge, and we shall spar."_ Rath explained, his message carrying a lot of unspoken information with it. The Gallade raised his arms, the blades on his elbows extending. _"On your guard!"_

Still reeling from the uninvited transfer of knowledge, Finn grabbed Athena's grip and swung her around to block an incoming swipe. The human blinked. "What."

"We're sparring. Less talk, more focus." Athena commanded.

Finn swung the blade in his hand to the side, knocking a green arm blade away. Another swing came in, another swing deflected. Before long, Finn was getting more confident in his abilities. The Gallade blinked, then with a blur of movement Finn was on his back staring up into his opponent's red eyes. _"Do not become overconfident."_

The Gallade reached down and pulled Finn back to his feet. Finn rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks."

 _"Practice is not over. Again."_ Rath launched back into a flurry of attacks.

It continued like that for almost an hour straight. Rath launching an assault that Finn was just barely able to hold off, then knocking the human off his feet the instant he became confident. The Gallade was clearly holding back the whole time, not putting his whole speed or strength behind the attacks.

When Finn got up in the morning, he was sore all over, and Rath was gone.

After bidding the rangers farewell, Finn had ventured on to a clearing in the forest. With luck, he would be able to catch himself a Pokémon.

"So…" Athena began, "What exactly are we looking for?"

"Quiet." Finn replied, his eyes sweeping across the field. Hopefully there were some fighting types in this area, but from experience he knew that the only fighting types to live anywhere near Teret City were the Machop in History Cave. The problem with History Cave was the fact that going more than a few feet in was an invitation for the Baltoy and Claydol that lived inside to screw with your head. That wasn't even taking into account the massive Golurk that called the cave home, along with the Duskull that tried to consume intruders. Tyson had been very specific in detailing why Finn shouldn't try to go in there. Humans were not welcome.

Unless, of course, you were the best of the best.

But hoping for the impossible wasn't going to get Finn anywhere. Right now he was going to look for any Pokémon that could be of use. He could worry about the typical reaction to his presence after he caught it.

Almost on cue, a bunch of grass rustled.

"You got your new move ready?" Finn asked quietly. Tyson had given him a TM to help him progress through his journey. True, the TM had been false swipe, a move that is useless in a trainer battle, but it was still useful for catching Pokémon.

"Yep." Athena replied, unsheathing herself and grabbing her sheath with her sash hand.

"Good, here goes." Finn stood up, looking down into the patch of grass. "Get in there and use a false swipe."

The Honedge swiped at the grass, shearing most of it off and leaving it no higher than Finn's shoes. A green and yellow head poked up out of the shortened grass. "Sewa?"

"Another false swipe." Finn reached over to his bag and pulled out a spare Pokéball. "Just repeat until it has no more effect."

Athena repeatedly slashed at the little insect in the grass, each swing not quite hitting, yet still seeming to do damage. Before long, the bug in the grass was close to exhaustion, and Finn tossed the Pokéball at it. The ball rocked once, twice, three times, then clicked.

"Well, that was smooth." Finn muttered, walking over to the Pokéball. "The epitome of simple."

"So who's my new teammate?" Athena queried, sheathing herself and floating over to Finn.

"Finding that out now." The human answered, releasing his newest Pokémon. Light flooded out of the ball with a loud sound, coalescing into a small six legged creature. Around its yellow head was a leaf, multiple holes evident in its little hat. Finn put the now-minimized Pokéball on his belt and pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket.

[Sewaddle]

[Sewing Pokémon]

[Type: Bug/Grass]

[Ability: Swarm. When this Pokémon is in danger some of its moves become stronger.]

[Gender: Male]

[Sewaddle make their own clothing out of leaves. Its saliva becomes an extremely sticky substance when it comes into contact with air, allowing it to bind almost anything together.]

The little Sewaddle looked up at Finn and tilted its head. "Sewa?"

"He's very confused. One moment he was eating lunch, the next there's metal flying through the air and he's captured in an orb." Athena translated. "He also wants to know why you smell funny. What's he talking about?"

"Something to do with aura." Finn dismissed, kneeling down to take a closer look at the bug type. "Hey there little guy. Do you have a name?"

"Wa?" The Sewaddle waddled up to Finn and looked up at him.

"Most wild Pokémon don't have names. They don't need them." Athena explained. "They know each other by little things, such as scars, smells, and unique features."

"So when a trainer names their Pokémon it doesn't mess with any preexisting name. That's good to know." Finn put his Pokédex away. "Well then, let's call you… Harvest."

"Sewaddle." The bug type crawled up to Finn's leg and started climbing up.

"He wants a better view." Athena said, snickering. "He's never met a giant before."

"Well, I'm not a giant, but I can certainly give you a better point of view." Finn picked the little insect up and put him on his head. The human chuckled and stood up. "So what's with you, Harvest? Most Pokémon don't like me."

"Sewa-waddle." Harvest curled up on top of Finn's head, falling asleep almost immediately.

"Hah!" Athena burst out into laughter. "He's naïve, so naïve. It's really touching. Harvest doesn't think anything bad can happen."

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Finn asked, reaching up to remove Harvest from his head. He held the little bug in his arms, chuckling lightly to himself. "He's cute."

"His naïveté won't last forever." Athena predicted. "He'll have to wake up eventually."

"True, but better that he stays this way until he's ready." Finn looked up and down the road. "Let's get going. We're only an hour away from Teret City."

Finn and Athena, and now their new teammate Harvest, set off towards Teret City. It wasn't long before the city came into view, the largest building being, ironically, the Pokémon ranger HQ. For a group dedicated to the protection of the environment and wild Pokémon, they had insane amounts of funds for buildings. The building was also the Pokémon center, the Pokémon gym, and housing for travelling trainers; all things that made visitors to Teret City happy that the rangers had set up shop there.

Teret City's gym was home to Ada, the normal type specialist and one of the most versatile trainers in existence. While all of her Pokémon knew a large variety of moves, she was best known for her use of environment manipulation tactics and adaptation of moves to unconventional purposes. Perhaps the most famous example was in a battle between her and the ghost type gym leader Mono. Mono had used his Dusknoir, while Ada had sent in her Kangaskhan. While some Kangaskhan could hit ghost types, it was astonishing that Ada's had been one of the ones that wake up easily, so as to counteract Mono's preferred strategy of having his Drifblim hypnotize his foes. Ada's strategy had been to use her Kangaskhan's incredible strength to dig a hole in the ground, then use hyper beam to bury the Dusknoir.

Ada never used her Kangaskhan in official gym battles, seeing as it was a class five threat. Most Kangaskhan only classified as class four, but since hers knew earthquake, giga impact, hyper beam, and blizzard, it was upped to a city destroyer, or class five.

Every Pokemon species was placed into a threat classification. Class ones were usually harmless, or able to be overcome by a small group of armed humans. Class twos could take out an entire armed squad, although with relative difficulty. Class threes were nearly impossible to engage without using a Pokémon of your own, class fours were able to flat out destroy buildings. There weren't many class five Pokémon species, although some class fours could be elevated to class five due to moves learned or training. An example of a class five species would be Tyranitar, albeit after nearly a century. Tyranitar never stopped growing, and their lifespans rivalled those of dragon types, leading to truly gargantuan monsters.

While the lines were fuzzy, most trainers were not allowed to have a city destroyer Pokémon. After obtaining five badges, the limitation was nonexistent, but the facts still stood. The police force had class fives of their own to counteract any that rogue trainers may have, meaning that the limitations were more guidelines than actual rules. Gym leaders, on the other hand, were required to limit the amount of class four and five Pokémon they used; however the amount of badges the challenger had allowed them to change it up a bit. No badges meant that they could only use class ones or twos, four badges allowed a single class four and two class threes, eight badges removed limitations entirely.

Of course, the classification system was strange when you took into account battle skill. Some Pokémon only went up in classification after being extensively trained, such as Ada's Kangaskhan. Others had battle capability completely unrelated to classification, for example Blaziken, a powerful fighter, was only class three. A couple species went down in danger level when trained, the most prominent example being Aegislash and its related species. Honedge was a class two, but when trained properly their instinctive soul stealing abilities lessened, making them class one.

Finn was only familiar with the classification system thanks to his mother. Xollen was a class five, despite Metagross as a whole being class four. This was because Xollen was not only a perfect specimen, being much larger and stronger than the average Metagross, but because Xollen had massive attacks that could easily destroy buildings. On the other hand, Clarent was currently class three, despite Aegislash as a whole being class four. Even with extensive knowledge of the classification system, some of the precise classifications still made little sense. It was best to take every classification with a grain of salt.

"No Pokémon should be punished for what their trainer does! The Pokemon owned by the thieves should be released, or given to a better owner!"

That snapped Finn out of his thoughts. Who was that? He looked around, finally finding the speaker on a stage in the middle of the small park that he was walking through. The man on the stage was wearing a silvery robe, one that Finn immediately recognized as the Team Plasma uniform.

A girl wearing the same uniform as the man who had spoken stepped forward. "For those unaware, Howard Stall was caught attempting to plant a bomb in the Pokémon ranger headquarters. If he had succeeded, the whole building would have gone down, killing hundreds of people and Pokémon. Fortunately, he was caught, and his Pokémon were confiscated. All we ask is that his Pokémon be released or given to new owners, so that they are not trapped in their Pokéballs for the rest of their lives."

The crowd around the stage murmured, with people saying things like. "Typical Plasmas." "His Pokémon are probably just like him." There were also those with the opposite opinion. "I agree, the Pokémon should be let go." "Pokémon can't choose what their trainer does!"

Finn sighed. Looks like Tyson wasn't joking, Plasmas really were legally protesting in the middle of Teret City. It wasn't like it was possible for anyone to stop them, freedom of speech was a thing, and Team Plasma didn't seem to be doing anything more than talking. So long as they didn't release any Pokémon or pull any weapons, there was nothing that could legally be done.

He walked into the Pokémon ranger HQ and walked over to the Pokémon center's station. The entry room was situated with three doors leading off of it, one for the rangers themselves, one for the gym, and the third for the Pokémon center. This third doorway lead to a room set up with a Pokéball transfer PC, a counter staffed by one of the Nurse Joys, and several vidphones.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon center!" The nurse at the counter greeted, a cheerful smile on her face.

Finn looked around quickly before walking up to the counter. "Hi, I'm guessing you're Nurse Joy?"

"One of them." The pink haired woman replied with a giggle. "What can I do for you today?"

"I have two Pokémon, a Honedge and a Sewaddle, I was hoping you could give me a medical diagnosis of them. Not to say there's anything wrong with them, but I'd like to know if either of them is sick, or something like that." Finn explained.

"Okay, just return them to their Pokéballs and hand them over, they'll be back with you in a little bit." Nurse Joy directed.

The teen nodded and recalled Harvest, handing the Pokéball over immediately after. The little Sewaddle had slept the whole way to Teret City, cradled in the crook of Finn's right arm. Athena had remained connected to his bag strap the whole time as well, remaining uncharacteristically silent. Finn grabbed her Pokéball. "Sorry Athena."

"It's fine." The Honedge replied, dropping back into silence. It seemed she was thinking about something.

With the ordinary flash of light, Athena retreated back to her Pokéball. "Okay, here you go. She doesn't like her Pokéball much, so please be quick."

"We'll have them checked up and healed in no time." Nurse Joy took the Pokéball and walked out of the room via a door behind the counter.

Finn took a deep breath and sighed, walking over to the couches set up for waiting trainers. Hopefully the results would show that his Pokémon were healthy, but he would take care of them both even if they weren't.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the crippled freak."

That could only be one person. Finn looked up to see Darrell sneering down at him. "You're wrong."

"About what? My mistaken belief that you actually got a Pokémon? I only entertained that belief for a few seconds before realizing that it couldn't be true." Darrell scoffed.

"I do have a Pokémon. Two, actually." Finn replied calmly. "I was saying that I'm not crippled anymore." Finn held his right hand up and twitched his fingers. "And why am I the freak when you're walking around with that horrible excuse for a face?"

"You- I- I'll make you pay for that." Darrell sputtered.

Finn sighed. He hated Darrell, he really did. He had tried so many times to get the bully off his case, but he refused to listen. "How?"

"I'll show you to pick on someone bigger than you!" The bully snarled, bunching his hands into fists.

While it was true that Darrell was taller and bulkier than Finn, the bully happened to have much less brain power than he did. Darrell consistently got type matchups wrong on tests, failed to add single digit numbers together, and tried to pass off his bad spelling as 'hip'. As a student, Darrell had flopped. As an athlete, however, his useless brain didn't get in the way.

"I thought you were a Pokémon trainer now." Finn retorted. "After all, you've been out for the past four years, I can't possibly match you in a Pokémon battle."

Darrell smirked. "Too right. Fine then, I'll battle you. Get your Pokémon."

"Sir, your Honedge and Sewaddle are ready!"

"Those would be mine, be right back." Finn got up and walked over to the counter.

"Both of your Pokémon are in good condition. I hope to see you again soon!" Nurse Joy handed over the two Pokéballs.

"Hmph, this'll be easy." Darrell commented from behind Finn.

"That's what you think." Finn muttered. He spoke up. "C'mon, let's go to the arena."

The rivals both went to the sanctioned battle arena in the building. Since it was the ranger HQ, Pokémon center, and gym, there were multiple arenas set up for Pokémon battles. All of them were indoors, but two of them had dirt floors, but the rest were concrete. Darrell had wanted to go to the dirt floor arena, and Finn was perfectly fine with that.

"So freak, you think you're good because you have two Pokémon, don't you?" Darrell asked, taking his place at one end of the arena.

"I think I have two Pokémon." Finn answered simply, on his guard.

"Yeah, well I have three!" The bully boasted, sending out his first Pokémon, a Budew.

"Athena, I have a plan." Finn sent out his Honedge. "Swords dance."

"HAH!" Darrel burst into mocking laughter. "Why would you do anything but attack? Budew, use absorb."

A quartet of ghost swords appeared around Athena, swinging through the air before meeting with a clash above her. The Honedge swung upwards, absorbing all four swords, then returned to her defense position, taking the absorb without even flinching.

"Now fury cutter." Finn directed.

Athena swung at the Budew, incapacitating it in a single hit. "Is it supposed to go down in one hit?" The Honedge asked, looking at the unconscious Budew.

"…Not usually, but Darrell's a moron." Finn muttered in response, knowing that she couldn't hear. "Alright Darrell, next Pokémon."

"Fine then!" Darrell recalled the unconscious ground type and sent out another Pokémon. "Screw this kid up Trapinch."

The little orange antlion snapped its jaws a couple times.

"Athena, fury cutter again."

"Trapinch, dig!"

So that was why Darrell wanted a dirt floor, so he could use dig. Fortunately, Athena managed to get her fury cutter off just before the Trapinch went underground, boosting the move's power again. After a moment's thought, Finn pulled Athena's Pokeball out of his pocket. "Athena, return!"

The beam of red light shot out and hit Athena, only to bounce off and do nothing.

"Hah! Trapinch's ability is arena trap. You're so dead." Darrell crowed.

Trapinch shot out of the ground directly beneath Athena and clamped its jaws down on her sash. Athena hissed in pain and swung around, landing a fury cutter right behind the ground type's head, knocking it out and causing it to drop to the ground.

"Two down. One left." Finn shouted across the battlefield. "Send out your last Pokémon."

"Screw you Finn!" Darrell screamed, recalling his Trapinch and hurling his last Pokéball onto the battlefield.

Out of the light came a diminutive red creature, a yellow fire pattern on its stomach.

"Like my starter? It's a Magby, a fire type. Eat that, punk." Darrell taunted. "Use smokescreen, make sure this kid can't see anything."

The fire type spat a cloud of smoke, obscuring most of the battlefield. Finn sighed. "Fury cutter."

"Is that the only attacking move she knows?" Darrell scoffed, not even looking at his Pokémon. If he had, he would have seen that the attack had done much more than an ordinary fury cutter. Evidently Darrell didn't know about the multiplying effect of repeated uses of fury cutter. "Ember, finish this ghost off."

"Shadow sneak." Finn directed simply.

Before the Magby could do more than inhale, Athena vanished entirely before reappearing directly behind the fire type. Her blade swung all the way through the Magby, leaving no marks but dropping it into unconsciousness.

"How?! Goddammit how?!" Darrell screamed, recalling his Pokemon and stomping across the arena to Finn.

"No guard means that Athena literally cannot miss. You were taunting me about arena trap earlier, just a little karma, I suppose." Finn shrugged. "As for the damage she did, fury cutter multiplies in damage every time you use it. Coupling that with swords dance made it strong enough to nearly one hit knockout a fire type. Then there's shadow sneak, which hits before your opponent, almost always."

"You know what, fine! Have your fun!" Darrell spat. "I'll be out of here in a couple days anyways."

"See ya." Finn replied, gesturing for Athena to come back. Finn's plans involved leaving in a couple days too, hopefully going a different direction. Darrell seemed to have taken four years to get his first gym badge, but Finn was going to have it by the end of the month.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Meet Harvest, a cute little Sewaddle who's not afraid of anything, only because he doesn't know better.**

 **Darrell will be back. Repeatedly.**

 **I know that lots of people have classification systems for Pokémon based on how difficult they are to train or on how dangerous they are, but it just makes sense to have it.**

 **As always, please review and let me know what you think.**


	8. The Gym

_What do you do, when the world has collapsed?_

 _Do you try and rebuild? Gather the survivors to see what you can accomplish? Do you use your ingenuity and intellect to try and get things working again? Do you try and replant in order to have vegetable life once more?_

 _Or do you turn violent? Do you break out the guns and build a fortress? Do you actively hunt down others so that you can survive? Maybe you join those who seek to dominate what's left of the wasteland._

 _Perhaps you simply try to survive._

 _Or maybe you're trying to bring down the ones who caused the catastrophe in the first place._

 _The scientists who made the hybrids coded them with lifespans of only a few years. A clever strategy that failed to take into account the fact that ghost types didn't age and that some species of Pokémon lived for centuries. Taking four or five decades off of the lifespan of one of those Pokémon did effectively nothing, leading to hybrids that lived for almost the same amount of time as a normal human._

 _Then there was the fact that the hybrids were not sterile as their creators believed. Not only were they capable of reproduction, but the offspring lacked the genetic instability of their precursors. This 'second generation', as they were known to the survivors, were a much bigger threat than the unnaturally feral Pokémon that still populated some areas of the earth. Most people feared the new generation of hybrids, but Finn knew for a fact that some of them were more human than actual humans._

 _That didn't make them harmless, however. True, most of the second generation were simply a single Pokémon and a human combined, while a decent portion of the first generation were extremely unstable multi-Pokémon monstrosities. While the Blastoise/Scyther monsters of the first generation were deadly and nearly indestructible, they were genetically weak, and died off just a year after the first cataclysms._

 _What really scared Finn were the Shedinja hybrids. They were effectively immortal, being completely impossible to harm without very specific weaponry or abilities. That wasn't even bringing into the picture the fact that killing their mortal bodies didn't kill them. The hollow monsters had figured out that they could transfer their souls to other human shells, making them literally unkillable unless a ghost type took offence to their presence. Coupling this fact with their ability to drain a human and leave nothing but a dry husk, the most terrifying creatures in the desolate cities had to be the bug shells._

 _He was just lucky that he could handle them._

 _"You ready to go?" He asked his companion. The plan was to take out as many Shedinja hybrids as possible, so as to make the small colony of survivors safer, then get out before said survivors saw him. Odds were, they wouldn't take too kindly to his presence._

"C'mon Finn, we're literally linked. You know I am." _Athena replied, giggling._

 _"Yeah, I know. Still, makes me feel better." Finn muttered._

"You need some friends. Preferably ones that aren't linked to your mind." _Athena said with a sigh._ "Things just haven't been the same since the others… left."

 _Of course, by left she meant died. For a ghost type, she was remarkably sensitive about the subject of death. Not that Finn had a problem with it, she was the best partner and Aegislash he could ever hope for, even if the two of them were one and the same now._

 _How it had happened was a tale to ponder another day, but Athena's blade was now his right hand, acting like a switchblade in its ability to slide in and out of his now metal arm. At his wrist, or where it would be if he had a right hand, there were two sashes that wound around his forearm. When he retracted the blade, he could easily use both sashes as hands, effectively giving him three hands. His left arm was mostly normal, although it was plated with armor and had a shield on the outer forearm. Right on his forehead was a crest, embedded in the skin irremovably, a single purple cat's-eye gemstone was set in the middle, giving him the look of the third eye._

 _By means that he preferred not to think about, Finn and Athena were one entity._

"Well? Are we going?" _Athena asked, her mental projection stepping forward. It never ceased to amaze Finn that she could do that, manifesting as a human being, albeit only as a hallucination._

 _"Yes, sorry." Finn shook his head. "Just gotta get my head in the game. Let's go."_

 _The now-hybrid set off, using his new ghostly powers to teleport around the city. Locating the Shedinja was the easy part, as they gave off energy that was impossible to mistake for anything else._

 _As he travelled, Finn though back on the changes he had undergone. For starters, there were the physical changes, the sashes, the armor, the blade, and the shield. Now he could also perform abilities such as conjuring orbs of energy, shadow teleportation, and manipulation of darkness. In other words, he could perform Pokémon moves. More importantly, however, he was stable. His condition was gone, and he was immune to human diseases, as well as having the long lifespan of a ghost type hybrid._

 _Of course, there were downsides. Sometimes he rusted, and while it couldn't affect his brain like a normal steel type, due to his human origin, it could cause infection to his skin, that of it that wasn't metal. Like a ghost type, religious symbols and places made him weaker, although not to such an extreme degree. Then the most glaring downside was that he was an outcast from all forms of human civilization._

"There they are!" _Athena alerted, her spectral form appearing and pointing to a ruined building._

 _As if on cue, a sickeningly desiccated humanoid stumbled out of the building. Its skin was gray and flaking, as well as clearly lacking any fluids at all. The eyes were gone, dark holes in their place, and it seemed like there were absolutely no bones or internal organs inside of the mummified creature. Finn knew that if he went behind it, there would be a hole showing the inside of the empty husk._

 _This was a Shedinja hybrid._

 _The scariest part of a Shedinja hybrid was the fact that it could use any corpse as a new body, so long as said corpse was at least part human. With a normal Shedinja, they could only use other Ninjask husks, but since a Shedinja was born every time a Nincada evolved, the transfer was impossible. Shedinja could not take an inhabited body, much unlike other ghost types that could possess their foes._

 _"A prime sspessimen." The Shedinja hissed. While most people assumed that snake Pokemon and hybrids of them had issues with their esses, funnily enough it was Shedinja that actually had a problem with it._

 _"Go to hell where you belong." Finn muttered, his sword blade shooting from his right wrist._

 _"A feisssty one too…" The desiccated zombie walked all the way out of the building, slowly floating up off of the ground. Behind it, multiple other Shedinja hybrids began to exit the building._

"One… two… ten." _Athena counted._ "I'll prep a shadow ball."

 _"Let's get going."_

 _Finn's blade sheathed itself, the sashes unwinding from around his right arm and arcing outwards, an orb of purple energy forming between the ends. The sashes shot apart, launching the orb of energy into the leader Shedinja's chest, causing it to disintegrate entirely. Immediately afterwards, Finn's blade shot back out and he shot forwards, the tip of his blade trailing purple energy as he cleaved through the other Shedinja._

 _"Easy enough. They didn't even get a chance to retaliate." Finn commented, walking into the building and looking up._

 _There were dozens of desiccated human corpses hanging by hooks._

 _"Aww… crud."_

 _Two of the corpses dropped down, floating up off the hooks before lowering to hover just inches above the floor. One of them looked at Finn, an irritated expression on its face. "You KILLED me!"_

 _"You killed too many others." Finn spat, swiping through both Shedinja._

"Behind you!"

 _A hissing Shedinja dropped down behind Finn, its mummified hands curled into claws, dark energy trailing its movements. Finn whirled around and raised his left arm, his shield extending and glowing white. The Shedinja cried out in rage and pain, its hands falling apart as it recoiled. With a practiced movement, Finn stabbed it in the chest, then swept upward, destroying its body entirely._

 _The battle continued like that for a while, Finn efficiently wiping out each Shedinja as it reincarnated in a different body. It only took a single hit to take out each of the ghosts, Shedinja having no defense whatsoever against the few things that could actually hurt them. If it wasn't one of those things, then Shedinja were invincible._

 _"Hey Ace, did you hear that?"_

 _"Dammit!" Finn cursed, looking around the room. There were dozens upon dozens of desiccated corpses, all of them with a large hole in their back and some form of other injury on the front._

 _"I definitely heard that. Let's see who's in there."_

 _Finn spotted a staircase and dashed down into the basement. He didn't want whoever that was to spot him, and he was currently too weak to safely shadow sneak away._

 _"Damn, something killed these Shedinja. I do not want to run into that."_

 _Probably humans then. Hybrids didn't worry too much about the deaths of other hybrids. In fact, most hybrids didn't think far enough ahead to worry about what might have killed something, something they got from their Pokémon ancestors._

 _"Well, this is a better version of the future than the last one."_

 _Time stopped. Finn turned to see the black robed man, the strange man's piercing blue eyes staring right through him. "Who are you? Why have you showed up in my dreams twice now?"_

 _The old man shook his head. "You should know who I am. As for why I am here, it was the only way to contact you."_

 _"Contact me? Am I some sort of chosen one?" Finn asked, looking down at himself. He was back to normal, a sure sign that the nightmare had been interrupted._

 _"No. There is no 'chosen one'. You are merely the one who will be in the right place at the right time. Just like so many other young trainers." The old man replied._

 _"And how do you know how I am the one you need?"_

 _"That would be my doing." The ageless woman stepped into the dream world, appearing out of nowhere. Now that he could get a good look at her, he saw her blue dress with pink ribbons, and her blond hair. She wasn't old or young, but somehow both simultaneously, carrying the wisdom of ages with the beauty of youth._

 _"Who ARE you two?" Finn shouted._

 _"We're-" The woman began._

 _"-Out of time. He's waking up." The old man grabbed the woman's arm and the duo vanished._

 _Time started again._

 _Finn blinked. What had happened? Something…_

 _"Hey! There's a staircase here!"_

 _"I'll go first."_

 _"Why do you always go first?"_

 _"Because I have the gun."_

 _"Gimme the gun."_

 _"Seth, for god's sake, stop!"_

 _"…Fine."_

 _Two sets of footsteps started down the staircase, and Finn frantically looked around the room. To his panic, there was no other way out. He rushed over to the corner and grabbed a stack of nearby boxes, moving them across the room to block line of sight from the stairway._

 _A human entered the basement, scanning the room quickly. In his hands was a rifle, it wasn't in the best quality, but it was good enough to probably put a bullet through anything that threatened. The human was bulky, with a bigger build than Finn, although Finn was probably stronger than he was. Behind him was another human, sharing a family resemblance and holding a baseball bat up. The human in the back was of lighter build, though he could probably use that baseball bat well enough to ward off most normal Pokémon._

 _Behind the second human was a Shedinja._

 _Cursing to himself, Finn shot out of cover and charged a shadow ball. "Get down!"_

 _He fired the shadow ball right as the Shedinja reared back to swipe at the human with the baseball bat. It hit the mummified ghost type, obliterating its body in one hit and causing both of the humans to duck in panic._

 ** _BANG!_**

 _Finn flinched in pain as a bullet entered his shoulder. While his arms were metal, his torso very much was not. As quickly as he could, Finn teleported out of the basement._

 _Just another case of being treated like a freak._

* * *

"Finn! Finn!"

He shot bolt upright, sweat drenching his face. Much as he hated to admit it, that nightmare hit a lot closer to home than the first one. He hated being an outcast, and he dreaded the thought that he would lose all contact with other people.

"Finn, are you okay?" Athena asked worriedly, floating at the edge of the bed. "You were screaming in your sleep, it sounded like you were in pain."

"Sewa?" Harvest nuzzled up to Finn, nudging the human with his little head.

"I'm all right." Finn replied, scratching Harvest's head. "Just another nightmare."

"Sewaddle?" Harvest tilted his head.

"It's fine. I had a strange nightmare a few days ago, this one's just similar to it." Finn answered. "Not the same though. Better in some ways, worse in others."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Athena reached over and grabbed his right arm with her sash, her eye wide with worry.

"Not this time. Thanks though." Finn pushed the covers off, careful not to knock Harvest off the bed. He got up and stretched. "I'm going to go take a shower, then we're going to challenge the gym."

Twenty minutes later Finn was walking out of his room with Harvest on his shoulder and Athena on his back. He would have to put them both in their Pokéballs when he actually got to the gym, so as to have some secrets when he actually challenged Ada.

Finn had done his research, and he knew the layout and unique challenge of the gym, even if the gym leader's Pokémon were a secret. As weird as it was, the gyms let out information on the layout of the gym and what you have to do in order to get accepted for an official gym battle, but not the gym leader's team.

Since the Teret city gym was the normal type gym, the theme was versatility. The challenger had to show that they were able to diversify their skillset, needing to be quick-witted, patient, intelligent, persistent, modest, and observant, as well as having battle strategy skill. According to accounts of the gym's challenges, the gym was basically a training center, being the place that Pokémon rangers prepared for their official missions.

As Finn was walking, he zoned out. How was he going to prove himself in the gym? Well, for wit, he just needed to be fast on the uptake. Patience and intelligence were easy enough, he had done enough research to evidence the latter, while he had learned how to be patient in his four years of waiting. Persistence would also be easier, so long as he didn't quit, and he was certainly not a quitter. Modesty was probably simply not showing off, which was probably why Darrell had taken years to beat the gym, along with intelligence. Observance wasn't as easy, but he would just need to pay attention.

His musing was interrupted by accidentally colliding with someone.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Finn apologized, backing up a bit and looking at the man he had collided with.

Fortunately for the both of them, neither was particularly heavy, being about the same weight. The stranger was taller than he was, although his limbs were very slender. The stranger had golden eyes, hidden behind his half-rimmed glasses. His hair was adorned with a blue ribbon that started just in the front of his blond hair and wound around to his right glasses lens. "No problem, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Umm… my name's Finn." The teen awkwardly introduced himself, reaching up to make sure Harvest was still in position. Fortunately, he was.

The tall stranger looked at him curiously, his gold eyes taking note of Finn's right arm especially. His outfit was strange, being some sort of lab coat. "Colress. May I ask what happened to your arm?"

"That's, uh, not usually a question you ask a person you just met." Finn muttered, rubbing the back of his head, slightly dislodging Harvest from his perch.

"Oh, forgive me." Colress shook his head. "Where are my manners? I'm a scientist, studying the interaction between humans and Pokémon in order to see what we can do to bring out their true potential. Unless I miss my guess, that scar on your forearm is consistent with the injury that most victims of Honedge and its related Pokémon Doublade and Aegislash exhibit, or at the very least those that have been killed by the peculiar soul-draining qualities of the sash. I also note your Honedge on your back which seems to be cringing away at my statement. If you don't want to answer, you don't have to, but an answer could greatly advance my research."

"Well…" Finn hesitated. He was about to tell this man about the strange interaction he had with Athena. He wasn't sure if it was the right choice, but Colress genuinely seemed curious and passionate about his work. "I was born with my right arm paralyzed from the elbow down. I couldn't move my right wrist or hand at all, and my forearm and hand were completely numb. To the point where this kid stuck my hand under a Slugma and I never noticed." Finn raised his right hand, twitching the fingers a bit and showing off the scarred skin. "A couple days ago, I found my Honedge. It was during a thunderstorm, and she was hit by lightning multiple times, making her skittish. I took her home, and right as we got inside she was startled by thunder, causing her to grab my arm. Normally I would be dead, but…" Finn twitched his fingers again. "Instead my arm is healed. The muscles are atrophied, but the nerves work again. That's not all either. I can-" He cut himself off. "Well, her sash doesn't hurt me anymore."

Colress, who was listening in rapt attention, hummed to himself. "Very, very interesting…" The scientist stroked his chin in thought. "I would like you to come by so I can run some tests on you later, if that's all right with you." He took a card out of his coat pocket. "Come by here later. It'll be simple things, just blood tests and the like."

Finn took the card, looking at the location detailed on it. "I… may be by later. Thanks."

"I'll see you around." Colress nodded at Finn before walking away in the complete opposite direction from where he came from.

"See you around." Finn pocketed the card. "Nice guy."

"I don't trust him." Athena muttered darkly. "He's digging too deep."

"I didn't tell him everything." Finn replied. "He doesn't know about my understanding you, or the nightmares." He shook his head. "We're getting off track, you and Harvest are going in your Pokéballs for now. It's time to challenge Ada's gym."

* * *

Ada's gym was a large, open area within the Pokémon ranger HQ. While it acted as the normal type gym of the Toreta region, it was also a training course for Pokémon rangers. Inside were obstacles of all manner, so as to test the physical capability of a ranger and the bond they had with their Pokémon partner.

Fortunately for Finn, the entire course was possible with the use of only one and a half arms.

As he did the obstacle course, it became quickly obvious how each part corresponded to one of the skills that a trainer needed.

For wit, there was a slowly turning log that could change direction at random. It was the only way to get across a pit of mud, meaning that Finn needed to make quick decisions in order to even have a hope to get to the other side.

For patience there was a maze. While there was any number of ways to go at any given moment, the way back always lead to the entrance, leading Finn to the conclusion that there were Pokémon manipulating the maze in the background. Likely a ground type.

Intelligence was a quiz. Not on Pokémon, or anything battle related for that matter. It was a quiz on the uses and flavors of berries. Finn had had a good laugh on that one, he knew most berry usages, but Darrell had almost certainly had a difficult time on this one. The guy had once attempted to eat Rindo berries, a fruit that, while useful to Pokémon seeking to avoid grass weaknesses, was poisonous to humans. Finn had naturally warned against it, causing Darrell to be contrary and eat the thing anyways. Darrell recovered, but only because Finn had located a Pecha bush and had brought a berry back.

After that was the test of persistence. It was a simple trudge through the mud, difficult, but not impossible.

The last three factors would probably come into the picture during the gym fight he was about to begin.

"Announcing challenger Finnegan of Bluebell City, versus gym leader Ada of Teret City!" The referee called out.

Finn took a deep breath and stepped forward. The modesty factor was almost certainly not pulling out your Pokémon to help you through the gym. It wasn't against the rules to utilize Pokémon to navigate the maze or the log, but if you kept them a secret you could get the drop on the gym leader.

"So, you're Finnegan, huh?" Ada asked, a boyish smile on her face. She was athletic and slim, giving her a tomboyish look. "Would your last name happen to be Ferris?"

"That's me." Finn replied, grabbing Athena's Pokéball. She was probably irritated to have been stuck in the Pokéball all day.

"Well, knowing your mother, you should be pretty good at Pokémon battles." The gym leader commented. "So let's get this going. C'mon Rolf!"

Ada tossed a Pokéball, light flooding out of it and coalescing into a small canine creature. "A Lillipup. Thought as much. Okay then Athena, let's do this."

He tossed the Pokéball, releasing his Honedge onto the battlefield. Athena looked at the small creature in front of her and spoke. "Not exactly intimidating, are you?"

The Lillipup yipped in response, wagging his tail and panting.

"Let the battle… BEGIN!" The referee announced.

"Athena, swords dance!" Finn shouted immediately. "Then follow up with fury cutter!"

"Rolf, keep your distance and use odor sleuth!" Ada directed. "Wait for it to get in close."

Ghostly swords appeared around Athena, spinning around her and meeting above her with a clash. Her own blade swept up into the point where the swords met and absorbed all four, leaving her with a blue sheen. With a fierce snarl, Athena's blade started to glow white as she lunged towards the Lillipup. Her blade swept across once, twice, three times, the Lillipup managing to stay just out of range each time.

"Just-" _Swing._ "Stop-" _Swing._ "Dodging!"

Athena swiped downwards at the Lillipup, with Ada screaming "Dodge now!"

The little canine leapt to the side, leaving Athena's blade buried in the dirt ground. Ada quickly fired off another command "Rock smash it into the ground, then use fire fang!"

"Athena! Get out of there!"

Too late, Athena tried to pull herself out of the ground, to no avail. The Lillipup managed to bury her deeper in the dirt, then with fire burning in its mouth, it bit down on her blade. Athena screamed in pain before dropping into unconsciousness. "Return!"

"Finnegan's Honedge is unable to battle! The challenger must now send out his next Pokémon!" The referee declared.

Finn took a deep breath, then let it out. Athena had been his primary resource, but hopefully Harvest could battle. If the Sewaddle couldn't, he would have to forfeit. "Okay Harvest. Let's do this."

He tossed the Pokéball, letting the bug/grass type out onto the battlefield. "Sewa."

"Rolf, finish this battle with fire fang." The gym leader commanded.

Rolf rushed forwards, fire emitting from his mouth, and lunged towards Harvest, taking a chomp on the insect. Harvest cried out in pain, causing Finn to close his eyes. "Return!"

"Finnegan has recalled his last Pokémon, gym leader Ada is the winner." The referee announced, unhelpfully.

Finn put the two minimized Pokéballs on his belt and turned around to leave.

"Hey Finn!" Ada shouted, jogging across the arena, Rolf at her heels. "Don't be so down, you'll do better next time!"

"I hope so." Finn gave a half-hearted smile. "I just need to rethink my strategy."

"I can tell you now, there were no issues with your strategy." Ada assured, smiling kindly. "There was no way for you to expect that to happen. Heck, I don't even know what's going to happen when I go into a battle."

"I'll make sure to be back again in a few days." Finn replied.

"Just so you know, you don't have to worry about the obstacle course next time. The only requirement with it is to get through in one go, which you managed." The gym leader placed her hand on his shoulder. "Go rest your Pokémon and come back in a few days."

Finn nodded. "See you later, I guess."

With much on his mind, Finn left the gym to the Pokémon center. It seemed he was probably going to have to go with the numbers game, making certain that he had a full team of six in order to wear down Ada's Pokémon. Unless he could find a way to circumvent that Lillipup's fire fang and odor sleuth. If possible, his best bet would be to bring a wide variety of types, seeing as both his current Pokémon were extremely vulnerable to fire type attacks.

Perhaps a rock type would be useful. They resisted normal type attacks, making them resistant to the stronger powered normal type moves that Ada's Pokémon doubtless had. Maybe a ground type would be nice, resisting fire fang and not carrying the weakness to fighting that rock types did. That Lillipup obviously had a fighting type move in rock smash, that had probably been the factor that brought Athena down.

"Finn! Your Pokémon are ready!" Nurse Joy called out.

The teen walked up to the counter and grabbed his Pokéballs. He didn't exactly want their company right now, and he had enough medicine to last him another week or so. There really was no reason for him to stick around the Pokémon center, so he left.

Without a location he was trying to go to, he just wandered through the city. The Team Plasma stage was already dismantled and gone, the people who had set it up likely having retreated to their domicile. That didn't prevent some idiot from drawing graffiti in an alleyway badmouthing Team Plasma, despite the fact that they didn't seem to have done anything worth hating. Just went to show that some people need no reason to hate.

On an impulse, Finn pulled the card out of his pocket. The card that Colress had given him. According to the card, the place that Colress wanted him to go was around the back of the ranger HQ. Huh.

He made his way through the alleyways to the back of the Pokémon ranger HQ. There didn't seem to be anything there, which confused Finn.

You can tell something's going to happen, can't you?

Finn released Athena and unsheathed her, hurriedly telling the Honedge that something was up. He was immediately proven correct when a masked man in a black uniform came out of the shadows swinging a bat. As quickly as he could, Finn brought Athena's blade to bear, slicing the wooden bat in two. Following up on the motion, Finn kicked the grunt in the chest, launching him back into the wall.

Then another bat came down on the back of his head, and Finn fell unconscious.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **In which Finn has a nightmare, meets a scientist, and loses a gym battle.**

 **As always, please review and let me know what you think! I can't read minds, so I can't tell what you think is good or bad unless you tell me.**


	9. Plasma

What is the difference between good and evil?

Some would argue that those who are 'good' are creators, while those who are 'evil' are destroyers. That the 'good' have morality, while the 'evil' do not. Some claim that the 'evil' are chaos, while the 'good' are order.

But that doesn't really answer the question, does it?

Some of those called heroes destroy far more than they create. Some who are evil have more morality than those who are good. And while chaos is destructive, it is also the essence of creation; and order can remove the freedoms of those under its grasp.

So what truly is the difference between those who are good and evil?

Since the beginning of time, there have been battles between order and chaos, light and dark, good and evil. But creativity is chaos given direction, darkness is the result of light, and evil is naught more than a construct of human society.

Really, evil is whatever the vast majority thinks is bad.

Take Team Plasma into view for a moment.

On one hand, the original goal of Team Plasma was the freedom and care of Pokémon. True, those Pokémon did not want their 'freedom', but that did not change the intentions of the team. Intentions that, in most cases, would be considered 'good'.

Then on the other hand, there's the new Team Plasma. The ones who care not for the desires of others and their Pokémon. The ones that steal indiscriminately so that they can accomplish their goals.

Yet, the first version was more widely publicized, and the new one is more secret. In the eyes of the public, the original Team Plasma is worse.

Just goes to show you how stupid people can really be.

* * *

Finn was just coming to consciousness when a voice spoke out "Hey Ren. Get over here. Kid's waking up."

A mildly irritated male sighed, then spoke with a light Kalosian accent. "Dua, what do you think you're doing?"

The first voice, definitely female, giggled. "Well, you're not getting your little blobby friend out to search his brain. I'm just going to do the job for you."

"For the last time, you insane fool. Meobus is not going to scour the boy's mind." 'Ren' said, sighing again. "And you know that the device is experimental. Remember when you tested it on yourself? Not only was it entirely wrong, but you had difficulty speaking for a week."

"Oh look at me, I'm Renard! I'm so fancy because I'm from Kalos and I can commune with psychics! I'm going to completely forget I have these powers because the boss isn't here!" Dua mocked, putting on a fake Kalosian accent and making her voice sound goofy. "You suck Ren. I'll just get Circuit to-"

"I swear to god…" Renard muttered. "There, good luck accessing your two-tailed monster now."

"Oh c'mon!" Dua complained. "I just wanted her to power it up. It's not like it would've killed the kid."

"Shut up." This voice was familiar. In fact, it was one that was right on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't think of it in his barely conscious state.

"You're irritating the Pokémon." Renard commented.

"What do I care about some ghost sword?" Dua brushed it off.

Athena! That was who it was. But what had happened…?

Finn's eyes snapped open. He had been knocked out and kidnapped. By who though? Who had been the ones who knocked him out? One of them had a facemask and a black uniform, but he hadn't seen the other one.

Then it hit him Tyson had said that Team Plasma was in Teret City. Even though he was referring to the ones in silvery clothing, maybe the more secretive faction was here too.

"What do you know. The boy really is awake." Renard noted.

"I _told_ you." Dua sassed. "You just didn't believe me, despite the fact that you're 'in tune with psychics' and 'able to use telepakinesis.'"

"Telepathy and telekinesis." The Kalosian man corrected. "And in any case, the correct term is psychokinesis, movement using the mind."

"Psycho about sums you up pretty well." Dua taunted.

"Psychic, more like." Renard shot back. "You're the one who's psycho."

"Better to accept who I am than to be all uptight and self-centered." Dua retorted.

"Better to be uptight and self-centered than insane and self-destructive." Renard evenly replied. "One day you will do something so stupid that you wind up killing yourself. My primary goal here is to hold that day off as long as possible."

"Do these two ever shut up?" Athena muttered, bringing Finn's attention back to searching for a way out.

"Where am I?" Finn groaned, blinking a few times as his vision slowly came into focus. The room reminded him of Professor Aspen's lab, with all manner of devices and machines on the walls. Finn was being held spread-eagled, with metal clasps holding his wrists to some sort of metal board. By the pressure around his ankles, there were similar clasps holding his legs down too. As his eyes scanned the room he spotted Athena stuck to a table. There were no visible bonds, so it was likely that she was being restrained by a magnet and some sort of religious symbol, so that both her types were neutralized.

"Like I would tell you that Team Plasma has you in their custody!" Dua scoffed.

"You are the most stereotypically idiotic villain wannabe that I have ever met." Renard sighed.

Of the two, only Renard was in view. A tall man, the Kalosian had dark hair atop his head and a clean-shaven face. He was tall, probably taller than Colress had been, with a black uniform that had the Team Plasma logo on the right breast. He wore glasses, although they were most likely just for reading as he was doing now. He was seated in one corner next to a table, on which was a helmet that would most likely only cover the top and back of his head. Based off of his conversation with Dua, it would amplify his psychic abilities.

"And you're a tall Kalosian man who wears a mask and infiltrates enemy facilities. Where have I heard that before?" Dua shot back, walking into view with a helmet in her hands. The headwear she was carrying was covered in wires, indicating that it wasn't a completed model.

Dua wasn't a particularly tall woman, her frizzy blond hair sticking up all over the place. Her movements were somewhat erratic, and her brown eyes were constantly darting around. Like Renard, she was wearing a black uniform with the Plasma emblem on it.

"I think messing with electricity fried your brain." Renard muttered, turning a page on his book. "It may have given you faster reflexes than the average human, but you really are a scatterbrained little fool."

"Yeah, yeah, you psychic freak." Dua dismissed. "At least I'm more normal than my siblings."

"At least your siblings have enough brain power to know to hide their unique skills." Renard retorted.

"Hey Finn, you listening? These two are just telling us their whole lives stories." Athena pointed out with a giggle.

"Wish this sword would just shut up." Dua spat, kicking the table that Athena was bound to. In response the Honedge reached out towards her captor with her sash, causing Dua to dance out of the way. "Are you trying to kill me? I'll show you-"

"Unless I miss my guess, the boss will not be happy with you trying to do that." Renard commented, glaring at Dua over his glasses. "At least, until he gets back."

"Fine." The woman gave Athena a venomous glare before going to sit down on the other side of the table from Renard.

It wasn't long before Dua started fiddling, eventually taking a battery out of her pocket and tossing it from hand to hand. The two Plasmas sat there for an indeterminate amount of time before Dua looked up at Finn. "Holy crap he's awake."

"Yes, he's awake. You said this about ten minutes ago." Renard muttered, still reading his book.

"Okay, and what have we been talking about in the past ten minutes?" Dua asked, shooting a sidelong glare at Finn.

Renard looked up from his book. "Crud."

"Are we going to have to kill him now?" The woman took a knife out of her pocket, seeming entirely too excited to use it.

"Did you even look at his arm?" Renard put his book down. "He's clearly suffered a Honedge injury, yet he's not dead. Boss probably wants a look at him."

"Look at who?"

Both of the Plasmas jumped at that as a door behind Finn opened. Immediately, both of them stood to attention, dropping whatever they were holding at the time. "Greetings, sir!"

"For god's sake… how many times must I tell you not to do that?" The unseen man behind Finn sighed, his footsteps clicking on the floor. Suddenly he stopped. "Why is the restraining table out here?"

"Sir, we were at the location where you said to wait. This kid was there, with the scar on his arm like you described, so we took him out and brought him back here." Dua answered. "Didn't want him getting out before you got back, so we pulled out the table."

"You pulled out the table designed to hold Machamp in order to restrain… who, exactly?" The newcomer asked. "And what is this?"

"Oh, I rigged that up with a few wires and a slab of metal we had on hand. The Honedge was trying to fight us off, so I had Circuit knock it out." Dua explained. "Made a strong electromagnet easy, then I stole Renard's crest of Arceus in order to keep it incapacitated."

"Honedge…? Who did you kidnap?" The man behind Finn walked forward, coming into view. "Oh, goddammit you two…"

It was Colress.

"Forgive my over enthusiastic colleagues." Colress apologized, undoing the metal clasps and letting Finn off of the metal slab he was being held on. Now that he could actually look at it, there were six separate clasps, presumably one for each limb on a Machamp. "Renard, disable Dua's… contraption."

"You…?" Finn muttered. "You're a Plasma?"

"Yes, although I would prefer to remain largely unassociated with them." Colress shot a glance over his shoulder at Renard and Dua. "Mostly it's a technicality. While they are not worried much about illegal activities, I prefer to utilize diplomacy until it is no longer an option." Colress scanned Finn with a professional eye. "You're dehydrated. Dua, how long has he been here?"

"Umm…" The thief rubbed her chin in thought. "Well, you wanted to meet him in the alleyway around three hours ago, and he showed up there almost a full ten before that…"

"Thirteen hours with no food or water." Colress shot Dua a glare. "Go get some. He's probably starving too."

Dua left the room in a hurry, clearly not eager to risk the wrath of Colress. On the other side of the room, the table that Athena was bound to powered down, and the Honedge levitated over to Finn immediately. "I told you not to trust him."

"I get it, Athena…" Finn murmured, feeling lightheaded. "Strange scientist dude turned out to be a higher-up in the infamous Team Plasma. Should've seen that coming."

"Are you…?" Colress looked back and forth between Athena and Finn, his eyes widening. "Interesting. Very interesting. But you seem to be suffering from delirium. I'll get something for that."

"No, no, I do this all the time." Finn protested, blinking a few times to clear his head. "Mostly right after taking my meds or waking up."

"Meds?" Colress inquired, accepting a glass of water and a plate from Dua. He handed the plate to Finn, who took it and started eating. Pizza. Probably just the easiest and fastest food to prepare. Athena immediately protested that it might be poisoned, which Finn ignored. If they wanted him dead, they could have easily done it already.

"Yeah. I get blackouts from time to time." Finn replied, downplaying his condition. He had already learned about that. "I have my meds to prevent it, I need to take them daily." Finn finished off his pizza. He truly was starving. "…which I haven't today. Could I have my stuff back?"

"Provided you don't run immediately." Renard muttered. The Kalosian man stepped out of the room for a second, then returned with Finn's bag and Pokéball belt in hand. "Some of the goons from main base came through and checked your bag. I don't think they took anything."

Finn took the bag and dug through it, quickly locating his medicine. He popped the lid off and extracted a pill, downing it with a bit of water from the glass Colress had given him. "Thanks."

"Now that the immediate crisis is over, how about we get to introductions." Colress adjusted his lab coat quickly. "I am Colress, the technical leader of Team Plasma. As I said, I'm conducting research on Pokémon in order to see what it is we can do to bring out their true potential. Some time ago, a man named Ghetsis hired me to do my research in the service of Team Plasma. They would receive my results before anyone else. Eventually, for reasons still unknown to me, Ghetsis assigned me as the leader of Team Plasma, under himself, of course."

Renard stepped forward. "My name is Renard. I came to Toreta from Kalos seeking new opportunity, and eventually got wound up in Team Plasma. About a year ago, three others and I volunteered for genetic experimentation, the result being that now I possess psychic powers."

"It also turned you into an uptight snob." Dua taunted. "I'm Dua. I'm one of the other three volunteers, in my case the result was electric type DNA. Now I'm faster than most human beings could ever be, and my reaction time is better than that of a Scyther. Unfortunately it screwed with my head a bit."

"More than a bit." Renard muttered under his breath.

"Um. Okay." Finn blinked a couple times. "I'm Finnegan. My right arm was paralyzed from the elbow down since birth, but as you can see…" Finn raised his right hand and moved his fingers a bit. "Athena, my Honedge, accidentally wrapped her sash around my right forearm, and now it's not paralyzed anymore. And as you guessed just a moment ago, I can understand her now."

Colress grabbed a syringe and an alcohol swab. "If it's alright with you, I would like to take a blood sample from your right arm, so as to see what sets you apart."

"Go right ahead." Finn acquiesced, nodding.

Acting quickly, Colress swabbed Finn's arm and stuck the needle in carefully. After a moment of extracting blood, Colress pulled the syringe out and set it in a device in the wall. Immediately after, he pulled a bandage out of a cabinet and put it on the new hole in Finn's arm. "There we go. Thank you for your contribution."

"Am I free to go?" Finn asked, picking up his bag.

"Absolutely. On one condition." Colress pulled a Pokéball out of his lab coat pocket. "Battle me."

"Erm." Finn blinked a few times. "What?"

"Battle me. I challenge you to a Pokémon battle. One on one."

"Okay then…" Finn blinked a few more times, still surprised. "Athena. Let's go."

The scientist smiled. "Roswell"

With a flash of light, a Pokémon shot out of Colress' Pokéball, its brown skin covered in lines and dots. The sides of its elongated head had depressions in it, and while its eyes were technically under its head, it still looked forward. The ends of its stubby arms had colored lights, one being red, one green, one yellow.

"Start with a swords dance, then use shadow sneak." Finn directed.

"Shadow ball." Colress said simply.

The brown Pokémon, a Beheeyem, fired off an orb of purple energy, only for it to miss as Athena vanished into the ground. The Honedge popped up behind Roswell and slashed its back, knocking it forwards with a startled cry.

"That's enough. Thank you." Colress announced, returning Roswell to his Pokéball.

"I- what?" Finn sputtered.

"I wanted to gauge your Pokémon's willingness to obey you. I wanted a battle, not a victory or loss." Colress explained. "You're free to go. Exit's right over there. I only ask that you don't call the police on us. It won't make much difference, but it's mildly irritating."

"Gotcha." Finn nodded, walking towards the door.

Athena clipped herself onto the sheath mount. "Well, that wasn't what I expected."

Something seemed missing to Finn. Something that he hadn't noticed until Athena clipped herself onto his back. With his left hand, he searched for the other Pokéball on his belt. The one Harvest was in.

"Where's my Pokémon?" Finn whirled around, glaring at the three Plasmas.

"You only had one Pokémon when we brought you in." Renard replied. "And your Honedge is right there."

"I had a Sewaddle. He was in his Pokéball." Finn seethed. "Where. Is. He."

"You not only kidnapped him, but you let his Pokémon be stolen by the goons from main base…" Colress pinched the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath and let it out angrily. "Dua, Renard. You will both be talked to after this. Understood?"

Both of the Plasmas cringed, but saluted. "Yes sir."

"Finnegan, I'm incredibly sorry about this whole thing. This wasn't supposed to happen." Colress sighed. He walked over to one of the devices on the wall. "I know that nothing can compensate properly for losing one of your Pokémon, but hopefully this can help."

Colress pulled a small object out of the device on the wall. "These are largely experimental, but that's mostly because we don't ever have enough resources to make them."

In Colress' hand was a small purple and black orb. Finn's eyes widened. "Is that…?"

"A master ball." Colress confirmed. "Not the normal kind, though. This one is specifically designed to be unusable for anyone it isn't registered to. Just in case someone managed to obtain one from Team Plasma. In your case, simply registering this thing to your trainer ID will make it so that thieves cannot use your Pokémon. It may be too late to retrieve your Sewaddle, but this will prevent recurrences."

The scientist handed the orb over to Finn, who accepted it with eyes wide. "Why though?"

"Because I was stupid enough to believe that these two wouldn't take it too far." Colress sighed. "I've lost Pokémon too, and the pain is soul crushing. I truly apologize for what happened, and I wouldn't blame you if you took up some sort of personal vendetta against Team Plasma. If I learn where your Sewaddle is, I'll let you know."

"Okay."

Finn left the Plasma base, with pain in his heart and a lot on his mind.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Meet Dua and Renard, two of the members of Team Plasma.**

 **Dua is pronounced dew-uh. Just for anyone who was confused. Also, Kalos is based on France, so Kalosian = French**

 **Harvest was an adorable little guy, but he wasn't meant to last. Sorry people.**

 **As always, let me know what you think by leaving a review.**


	10. Nyx

How do you grieve for those you've lost?

How do you honor their memory?

How do you deal with it?

Maybe you cry for a while, then continue on, the problem forgotten. Perhaps you try to remember them, but don't do it properly.

Or maybe you just don't get over it at all.

In an attempt to recover from his loss, Finn was out in the mountains past Teret City, trying to find a new Pokémon.

To Finn, it felt at first like he was betraying Harvest. He couldn't bring himself to catch a new Pokémon, even if it was what he needed to do. It was like replacing his friend, his little bug type that thought that nothing bad could happen.

Most people underestimated the bond a trainer had with their Pokémon, even the ones that they just caught. In reality, it was entirely possible to have the same bond with a Pokémon you've had all your life, and a Pokémon you caught last week. Your bond with your Pokémon has more to do with how you treat each other than it does with time, even though time is a factor.

With Harvest, Finn was close to reaching the point where the bug type could have gone straight from Sewaddle to Leavanny, despite only having him for a day. Finn didn't know this for a fact, though his loss wasn't any less crippling. He almost didn't want to continue, but he couldn't quit now. Despite his loss, Finn needed to continue, otherwise there was no way he could ever get Harvest back.

Because that was what Finn had determined. No matter what happened, Finn would find a way to find and rescue Harvest. He would hunt down the Team Plasma main base and bring his Sewaddle back with him.

Even if he had to take down all of Team Plasma to do it.

Which brings up the Team Plasma people he had met the previous day.

Renard was a bit strange. He claimed to have psychic powers, and he had a helmet that had a gemstone in the middle of the forehead. But the Kalosian man hadn't ever evidenced any ability to do anything, despite all his talk. He also seemed to have some sort of issue with Dua.

Speaking of Dua, she had been experimented on with electric type DNA. Faster reflexes and the ability to manipulate electricity to a degree, at the cost of sanity. Based off the innate weaknesses of electric types and Dua's strange behavior, it was probably safe to assume she was some sort of bipolar.

Then there was Colress. Colress was surprisingly understanding for a member of Team Plasma, especially one who was the leader for over two years. The guy had up and given him a master ball in apology for the other Plasmas taking Harvest. Yet on the other hand, nothing would have happened if Colress hadn't invited him to the alley.

So while Finn was justifiably angry, he also had other things on his mind.

"Hey! You! Over there!"

… Until that guy interrupted.

"Hey! Look! Over here! Dude! Man! Pal! Buddy! C'mon!"

Finn shook his head and ignore the guy on the side of the road. He was shouting now, trying to grab Finn's attention.

"Come on! Stop ignoring me! Over here!"

Losing his temper, Finn whirled and glared at the person who was shouting. He was in his early teens, probably a year or two younger than Finn, with a backpack and Pokéballs on his belt. The kid cheered as Finn turned towards him. "Yes! Pokémon battle!"

"Really?" Finn sighed.

"Yeah! When two trainers meet eyes, you have to do a Pokémon battle!" The kid pulled a Pokéball off of his belt and held it up.

"Athena." Finn just threw up his hand and the Honedge detached from his back and floated around to the front.

"Machop!" The other trainer threw the Pokeball, releasing a small gray-skinned humanoid creature. Finn knew what it was, but using the Pokédex to clarify what it was would still help.

[Machop]

[Superpower Pokémon]

[Type: Fighting]

[Ability: Guts/No Guard]

[Gender: Male]

[Machop are incredibly strong despite their small stature. Since their muscles never ache or cramp, they can train almost indefinitely in order to increase their already immense strength.]

Both of its possible abilities had no effect that could take place while Finn was battling it. Guts Pokémon only got a bonus when they were poisoned or burned, and No Guard only really helped when the other Pokémon didn't have the ability. Then there was the fact that it was a fighting type, giving Finn an immense bonus in type advantages, unless it knew a move that could negate the ghost immunities.

"Athena, swords dance then shadow sneak." Finn directed. That should be more than enough to take the Machop down, and a second shadow sneak would certainly end it.

"Machop, um, karate chop!" The other trainer seemed uncertain as to what he was doing.

Sure enough, as Finn had predicted, a single shadow sneak was all it really took to knock the Machop out of the fight. "Ok, I battled you, bye."

Finn started to walk off, only for the other trainer to run up and walk next to him. "Good battle! I didn't expect you to have a ghost type Pokémon."

"Machop learns foresight early on. If yours doesn't know it, I suggest you teach it how to use the move. Foresight nullifies ghost type's immunities, meaning that you technically had the advantage, if your Machop hadn't been knocked out with my Honedge's second move." Finn stated. "Then there are people who can teach Pokémon moves they would otherwise not know, such as fire punch. I don't know where they are, but I'm pretty sure there are a couple move tutors in Bluebell City."

"Wow, you sure know a lot about Pokémon." The kid ran around in front of Finn and stuck his hand out. "My name's Anthony."

After a moment, Finn shook his hand. "Finn. I've been trying to become a Pokémon trainer for four years, ever since I was ten. Just recently got my first Pokémon, though." Finn sighed. "That's why I know so much about them, I've spent the past four years researching battle strategy and type advantages."

"Man, that sucks. So what're you doing out here?" Anthony asked, walking alongside Finn.

"Looking for a new Pokémon. My second one was stolen." Finn huffed, speeding up to try and lose Anthony.

"Hey, maybe I can help! What kind of Pokémon are you looking for?" Anthony picked up his pace.

"I don't know yet." Finn stopped. "Look, can you leave me be for a bit? I just… need some air. Plasmas stole my Sewaddle, and you're not helping."

"Well, there are lots of Sewaddle on the other side of the city." The other trainer started.

"Shut up and leave me alone." Finn growled, glaring at Anthony. "I am not replacing my Pokémon. I am NOT going to just get a new Sewaddle and forget about Harvest. I am going to find another Pokemon and make the Plasmas _pay_ for what they've done." Finn took a deep breath and continued, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "He trusted me as his trainer to protect him, and now he's in the hands of thieves."

Finn marched off, hiding his face from both his Pokémon and the other trainer.

How do you grieve the loss of a friend?

Maybe you cry a bit and forget.

Or maybe you try to carry on, find some way to avenge them. To remember them forever. Maybe you snap at those around you, despite their not knowing your pain. Inside, it hurts all the more.

* * *

When it comes to luck, Finn has the short end of the stick. Especially when it comes to walking locations.

Back home, there was a ditch that ran alongside the edge of the road to Professor Aspen's lab. While it wasn't roped or fenced off, it really should have been. Or at least, in Finn's opinion it should have been. The ditch wasn't deep, but falling into it hurt quite a bit. Finn didn't even know how many times he had fallen into the ditch, but he did know that it was almost always because he put his foot in exactly the wrong spot. Once or twice the Misdreavus had pushed him, but every other time it was a clear day, with stable ground.

Then there was the fact that, any time he walked under trees, he would somehow find the one tree root that was high enough off the ground for him to trip over it. It had happened when he was running from the Vespiquen, then again while he was training with Athena.

Now that he was in the mountains, however, his luck had found a way to drop him more than five feet.

In fact, the only reason he wasn't at the base of the cliff right now was because Athena was the best Honedge anyone could wish for.

With her sash wrapped around his waist, the steel type had unsheathed herself and stabbed into the rock face, effectively stopping their descent. Unfortunately for the both of them, Athena was not strong enough to hold Finn for long, and her blade began to slice through the rocky cliff face. With several bumps and starts, the duo slid down to the base of the cliff without broken bones or severe injury.

Although getting out of the small valley they were in would be a pain to do.

"That… that hurt a lot more than you would guess." Athena muttered, gingerly sheathing herself. "Please tell me you'll sharpen my blade later."

"I'm guessing that it's like standing in the middle of a sandstorm, but worse." Finn replied. He had scrapes and bruises all over from the bumpy descent. His right arm was especially injured, as he had a habit of leaning his right side into falls to lessen the pain. Now that his arm was fixed, however, that was a bad idea.

"I don't know what it feels like to be in a sandstorm, never had it happen to me. But it's basically the worst friction burn you could imagine." Athena slowly stretched her sash. "Not to mention the strain that carrying you was."

"'m not that heavy." Finn protested.

"I'm just a Honedge. My sash is for winding around arms and not letting go, not for carrying teenagers." The Honedge retorted.

"Just go in your Pokéball. It'll stop the pain." Finn suggested with a sigh, holding the red and white ball up. "I'll see if I can get us out of this."

Athena nodded, then returned to her Pokéball. Finn sighed again. "Just me now. Here goes."

He put the Pokéball on his belt and started walking. His plans for catching a Pokémon were more or less out the window now, seeing as Athena wasn't battle ready. Even false swipe, a move that didn't actually hit the opponent, would have been a strain on her.

The valley continued on for a while, fortunately in the direction of Teret City. It probably came out in the plain the city was built in, which meant that Finn just had to continue onwards to get to the city. Athena would be healed once he got there.

There wasn't much around. Just a few pitfalls, a couple trees, and boulders everywhere. It didn't look like there were any Pokémon that lived in this area, but you could never really be sure. It was probably safer if there weren't any Pokémon anyways. There wasn't much he could do to defend himself if a wild Pokémon attacked, and any Pokémon that showed up would attack. That seemed to be the only thing they did, either run away or attack him.

As he was passing by the one pitfall that had a tree next to it, the ground under him vanished, sliding down into the hole in the ground. With a thud, he landed on his back in the pitfall.

There was an unpleasant crunching noise, and dozens of insect-like forms began to scramble madly. At least fifteen purple exoskeletal creatures climbed up the walls from around and under Finn. One of them was a startling blue color, and it lead the rest of the creatures up the walls and then up the tree. Their frenzied movements were jerky, but all of the Pokémon climbed up the tree and then dropped off, gliding away from the pitfall.

All but one.

The Pokemon that Finn had landed on was by far the largest of the group. While the others were about three and a half feet tall, this one was almost four. Its head had large bat-like ears on the top, and an eternal grimace on its face. It was roughly bipedal, with scorpion claws instead of hands and a flap of skin between its arms and torso. Its legs were segmented, ending in two-pronged claws. One of its legs was twisted unnaturally, which made Finn cringe. That didn't stop it from climbing the tree, however. But once it got to the top of the tree, it floundered, unable to glide properly. This didn't seem to have anything to do with its leg either, instead it was just too large and uncoordinated to glide properly.

As it fell back into the pit, it pulled itself back against the wall, hissing and whimpering. Its stinger tail raised in order to keep Finn back.

Moving carefully and slowly to avoid startling the Pokémon, Finn pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket and scanned it.

[Gligar]

[Fly Scorpion Pokemon]

[Type: Ground/Flying]

[Ability: Hyper Cutter]

[Gender: Female]

[Gligar are nocturnal Pokémon, utilizing echolocation similarly to how Zubat and other bat Pokémon do. The stinger at the end of its tail is capable of injecting poisons into the target. Its preferred method of attack is to climb cliff sides and use its wings to drop on an unsuspecting target. This works marvelously, as its flight is soundless.]

"A Gligar huh?" Finn muttered, putting the 'dex away. "It's okay, I won't hurt you."

The Gligar hissed, huddling closer to the wall. The stinger on the end of its tail lit up, then fired a needle. Finn ducked under it and grabbed Athena's Pokéball. It wouldn't be nice to her, but he needed a translator.

A quick flash of light heralded the arrival of the Honedge, who groaned in pain and glared at Finn. "I thought you were going to get me to the Pokémon center first."

"Small problem." Finn replied, nodding at the Gligar. "I fell in here, landing on that Gligar. I want to tell it that I want to help, but it doesn't seem to understand me."

Athena turned towards the Gligar and slowly floated towards the ground/flying type. "Well no wonder, she's panicking because you fell on her and broke her leg. Hey, it's okay. He's nice, really. He just has bad luck, and tripped."

The Gligar chittered a bit, slowly moving towards Finn. He kept still to avoid startling her, and she poked him in the arm. The scorpion jumped back a bit, expecting Finn to do something in response, but he kept still and smiled. "Just be careful, I'm hurting as much as you are, just all over instead of just one leg."

"We're going to have to all go to the Pokémon center." Athena declared, sinking to the ground slowly. "One of us has the ultimate friction burn, one a broken leg and an inability to fly, and the last is bruised and battered all over."

At the words Pokémon center, the Gligar backed up, shaking her head and chittering nervously. Athena sighed. "He's not going to hurt you. He saved me from a lightning storm. Then I nearly killed him."

"It was an accident." Finn muttered with a shrug. "Besides, the people at the Pokémon center are going to help fix up your leg. After that, you can go back out here."

The Gligar tilted her head, clearly not fully understanding his words. Athena quickly translated, and the Gligar hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"Alright then. Athena, you can go back in the Pokéball. I'll carry Gligar to Teret City." Finn recalled the Honedge back to the Pokéball, then looked around the pit. There was one side that was considerably less steep, and he began to climb up. The Gligar could still climb well, so she was easily out of the pit before he got to the top.

With a grunt of effort, Finn picked the Gligar up and carried her in his arms. She was a lot heavier than she looked, having an exoskeleton that was dense enough to ward off most attacks. Fortunately for Finn, his left arm was stronger than that of the average person, due to having only one usable hand for most of his life. His right arm from the elbow up was just under average in terms of strength, but that would be easily fixed with sword training.

* * *

It didn't take as long as Finn initially thought to get back to Teret City. Turned out that the path he had been on when the ground gave out was only a mile away from the city, even though it had taken all morning to get there.

He had managed to get Athena and the Gligar to the Pokémon center quickly, explaining hurriedly that his Honedge had a bad friction burn and that he found the Gligar in the wild.

The nurse had taken both of the Pokémon away hurriedly, then returned with a salve that she said would numb the pain and help the cuts and bruises heal faster. After telling the nurse what had happened, she informed him that he was very lucky that he was still alive. Apparently surviving a fall that shouldn't have happened was considered lucky.

"Finnegan? Your Honedge is ready!" Nurse Joy called out.

Finn stood up and limped over to the counter. "How's she doing?"

"Well, her sash was strained, and her blade was badly chipped, but those will heal in a couple of days. Until then no battling." Nurse Joy informed him. "But then there's the case of your Gligar."

"She's not my Gligar, she's wild and in need of help." Finn explained.

"Unfortunately, we can't release her back into the wild." The pink-haired woman sighed. "And it has nothing to do with her broken leg. Gligar have a very delicate balance of size and weight, and it's difficult to disrupt this balance. If, by some chance, something does offset the delicate balance, the Gligar winds up unable to fly. The Gligar you brought in is just big enough to be incapable of flight, meaning that she can't hunt for food. It's miraculous that she's been able to survive this long at all. Her only hope to be able to fly is to evolve, and with the rarity of razor fangs, that's not likely to happen any time soon."

"So there's nothing you can do for her?" Finn asked.

"Her leg will heal in a couple weeks; Pokémon heal remarkably fast. But as for her flight, there's no way to fix that." Nurse Joy sighed again. "I'm incredibly sorry."

"Is she awake?"

"She is, and not very happy about being in a bed." Joy confirmed. "Would you like to see her?"

"Yes, it it's all right. And I'm bringing my Honedge too."

"Okay. Follow me." Nurse Joy led Finn to one of the back rooms of the center. There were several beds, all of them with white sheets and some of them with injured Pokémon in them. The Pokémon center was also a medical center for humans, although it was in another part of the building.

Some of the cases were extremely disheartening. A Breloom with its tail amputated was sitting on one bed, currently being measured for a prosthetic. A Zubat with mangled ears was rested on another bed. On a third bed was a Meowstic with a scar across its face, both of its eyes a glassy white. All injuries that could be overcome, but still crippling for a time.

Rather a lot like the Gligar's plight.

Speaking of the Gligar, she was on the bed at the end of the room. She wasn't very happy about being indoors, and on her leg was a cast. Finn walked up to the scorpion-like Pokemon, letting Athena out of her Pokéball along the way. Athena was a bit scratched up, but otherwise fine.

"Hey Finn, what's…" The Honedge began, only to be cut off by Finn.

"I need a translator. Gligar doesn't understand me yet." Finn explained. Of course, there was no way Finn could understand her, but Nurse Joy didn't know that Finn could understand Athena. After the Colress incident, he wasn't letting information like that out anymore. "Let her know that… that we can't release her back into the wild. That Nurse Joy isn't allowed to let her go because she can't fly."

"W-we can't let her back in the wild?" Athena asked, to which Finn responded with a barely perceptible nod. "I'm sorry Gligar. H-hey, at least you can have Finn as your trainer. He's really nice."

Gligar's eyes widened and began to tear up, her claws thrashing around on the bed as she sobbed. Finn slowly reached out towards the scorpion, hesitating before he actually touched her exoskeleton. To his astonishment, the Gligar reached out and pulled him closer, her diminutive limbs holding an astonishing amount of strength. The Pokémon buried her face in his shirt, crying about her loss.

"Shh… it's okay. It's okay." Finn cradled the back of the Gligar's head. "We'll get you to evolution, then you can fly. Once you evolve, I'll let you go. How's that sound?"

For the first time, it seemed like the Gligar understood him. She looked up at him, hope in her tear-filled eyes. Finn smiled gently. "Do you have a name?

The Gligar shook her head in response.

"Well then Nyx, welcome to the team."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Meet Nyx, the Gligar that's just barely too big to be able to fly. Nyx is the name of the Greek goddess of the night, which fits Gligar's evolution method and inspirational source. That source being, of course, bats, scorpions, and gargoyles.**

 **Anthony didn't get much of a role in here, but he'll show up again later.**

 **As always, please review and let me know what you thought.**


	11. Adaptation

What was your first gym victory like?

Maybe it was a sweep, your starter Pokémon being strong enough to take out the gym leader's entire team in one go. Perhaps you caught another Pokémon that had a super effective move, and that new Pokémon was what did it.

Perhaps it was a back and forth, with trading neutrally effective move the whole time. Or maybe you had a Pokémon that was weak to the gym leader's Pokémon, but had a super effective move. Perhaps your first Pokémon fainted, then your second defeated the gym leader's team.

Finn's battle was similar to this.

It had been three weeks since Nyx joined Finn's team, and for the most part she had been extremely unhappy to be indoors most of the time. Her broken leg healed quickly, as Nurse Joy had predicted, but until it had, the Gligar wasn't allowed outside. They relied equally on claws and legs to climb, and while she had shown that she could climb well with just one leg, it was better to take no risks.

Athena had explained Nyx's size issue to her, detailing exactly why she wasn't going to be released back to the wild. Since Gligar had dense exoskeletons, their size and weight needed to be balanced nearly perfectly, otherwise they would be incapable of flight altogether. When Gligar evolved into Gliscor, their exoskeletons decreased in density, but became a strangely flexible light material that was also more durable than Gligar exoskeletons, albeit not by much. Since the weight decreased, Gliscor could fly much easier than their smaller counterparts.

In return, Nyx had informed Athena –who had relayed it to Finn- that the reason she hated the indoors was because she had never been out from under the open sky before. She had known that she couldn't fly, but that didn't stop her from trying as hard as she could. Nyx didn't particularly dislike Finn, or any humans for that matter. What she disliked was the idea of losing her freedom. Her ability to go where she wished.

As far as Athena and Finn's injuries, they were healed by the end of the week. The salve that Nurse Joy had given him worked like a charm, accelerating his healing enough so that his innumerable bruises and scratches healed in days rather than weeks. Athena had healed quickly too, her nicks vanishing in a couple days and her scratches healing even faster. One nasty chip remained in her blade for a while, but it too was gone by the end of the three weeks. Her dulled edge was also easily remedied, as Finn still had the sharpening kit.

Sword training was still in session too. Athena wasn't any less capable of guiding his arm while she was injured. From time to time, Finn had heard voices that were clearly not real. The voice of an elderly man instructing him to shift his weight, or to do a maneuver again. It was incredibly disorienting at times, but considering the fact that Rath had given him memories, it made sense. Finn was hearing parts of Rath's memory.

The idea of having a century old Gallade's memories in his head was slightly unnerving, but it did let him improve his swordsmanship. Admittedly there was a limit to what the new memories could teach him, but it was still a major benefit.

After Nyx healed, Finn put her and Athena through a training regimen in order to toughen up for the gym battle. To his surprise, Nyx was a lot physically stronger than Athena. Her combat awareness was less, but she had a wider variety of moves available to her, as well as an incredible amount of physical strength.

Now that Finn was in the gym, it would be time to put the training to the test.

"Challenger Finnegan versus gym leader Ada!" The referee announced. "Let the battle begin!"

"Alright Nyx, let's put our training to the test." Finn plucked one of the Pokéballs from his belt and pressed the button. With a sidearm throw, he released the Gligar onto the battlefield.

"Well, you already know my first Pokémon. C'mon Rolf!" Ada sent out her Lillipup.

"Start off with a sand attack, then use poison sting." Finn instructed.

"Rolf, try to get out of the way!" The gym leader directed.

As her trainer had told her, Nyx stuck her stinger in the dirt floor and swept it up in an arc, filling the air with sand. The Lillipup tried to get out of the way, but only wound up getting hit by the fringe of the dust, getting the particles in its eyes.

"Change tactics, use ice fang."

Finn's eyes widened at that. Ice fang was doubly super effective on a ground/flying type like Nyx. "Stay away from its head and use poison sting repeatedly!"

Nyx jumped up onto the Lillipup's back, using her far greater weight and stature to pin it to the ground and keep it unable to attack her. Her stinger glowed white, then purple, and stabbed into the Lillipup's side repeatedly. It was difficult to tell if Rolf was poisoned, but after seven or so stings it should be.

"Use dig!"

The Lillipup began scrabbling at the ground, quickly vanishing into the soil below and leaving Nyx above.

Cursing under his breath, Finn scanned the battlefield. Normally a Gligar could dodge this move just by jumping and gliding, but Nyx was completely incapable of flight. She was stuck on the ground, leaving her vulnerable to ground type moves.

Before Finn could issue another command, Rolf burst out of the ground, a white haze emitting from its mouth. To the surprise of both Lillipup and gym leader, Nyx didn't react as a Gligar normally would, and took the bite on her arm. Frost immediately began to collect about the injured limb, slowing Nyx's movements by a significant amount.

"Why didn't your Gligar fly up?" Ada asked as both of the Pokémon faced off.

"She can't. Not because she's crippled, but because of her abnormally large size," Finn explained. "Nyx, use night slash."

One of the most important things that Finn had learned about Nyx was that some moves were genetic, and one of those moves happened to be night slash. Gligar couldn't learn the move, at least, not during its natural lifespan. Gliscor, on the other hand, could; and it could pass the move down to its Gligar offspring.

Night slash was one of those moves that had a high chance to, as the more nerdy trainers called it, critical hit. There were no official terms for it, but a 'critical hit' cut through any defense increases that the recipient may have, as well as being almost half again as strong as a normal hit.

True to form, Nyx's claws became lined with shadows, particles of darkness streaming off of her claws as she swiped at the normal type. Finn had seen the attacked used before, usually on unfortunate foliage, and it rarely had this heavy of an effect. The Lillipup veritably flew across the battlefield, only barely landing on its feet.

Then it collapsed.

It seemed like the poison stings had done their job after all.

"Rolf, return." Ada raised the canine's Pokéball and recalled the little creature. "I'll be honest, I didn't notice those poison stings take effect. Well done on that one. I'm really sorry about your Gligar's condition, but don't think I'll take it easy on you just because of that."

"Nyx is as good as any Gligar, just less mobile. She's certainly bigger and stronger than most," Finn replied. "You'd be surprised how well she can get around too, she's a better walker than your average Gligar, and even if she can't fly she can climb with just her claws if she wants to."

"Well, you've only battled one of the two Pokémon I have ready for challengers without badges." The gym leader grabbed another Pokéball and pressed the button, increasing it to full size. "Tyson came to visit the other day, he had nothing but praises for the kid who could battle with a Honedge in hand. True, you only did training exercises, but being immune to a Honedge's sash is something special. Sure, some people can train their Honedge to not drain on contact, but that takes years and is not something your average trainer is capable of. He also let me know that you guessed both of my Pokémon of choice."

"Wait…" Finn mumbled, thinking. Then it clicked. "Lillipup and Eevee?"

"Yup!" Ada laughed. "It's funny, most people expect me to have the Lillipup, but for some reason they never seem to expect an Eevee. Sure it changes types when it evolves, but that doesn't make it any less of a normal type. Alright Neven, come on!"

The gym leader tossed the Pokéball, releasing the brown fox-like creature onto the battlefield. Finn knew full well what an Eevee was, Professor Aspen had introduced him to several, but this Eevee was certainly something special. For starters, it was bigger than the average Eevee, showing that it was much older than most Eevee were when they evolved. Then there was the collar. Set right in the front of the collar was a gray stone. It was extremely normal, almost excessively so. If Finn had to guess, it had to be an everstone, an item that prevented evolution.

"Neven's been with me since I started as a trainer. I borrowed a talker collar in order to ask him what he wanted to evolve into, and he told me he never wanted to evolve." Ada said with fondness in her voice. "That's why I became the normal type gym leader. Now then, let me show you what the normal type gym leader can do! Neven, double team!"

Finn cursed. Double team would make it a lot more difficult for Nyx to land her hits, and that was a problem. "Use sand attack, then try to pin the Eevee to the ground!"

Like before, the sand attack hit perfectly, getting dust in the Eevee's eyes right before it split into innumerable copies. Nyx looked around to see the real Eevee, but was unable to distinguish one from another.

"Neven, use trump card." Ada directed.

Every Eevee on the battlefield conjured a flat square of energy before firing them simultaneously. To Nyx's credit, she survived the hit, then used poison sting on one of the clones. Surprisingly, it was the real Eevee, although it didn't do enough damage to warrant a celebration.

"Trump card again!"

Again, the squares of energy appeared, this time launching into Nyx and knocking her unconscious. Finn recalled the Gligar quickly, then grinned. He quickly ran through what he knew of Eevee, and his grin widened. "Athena, you got this one."

Ada blanched. "Crud. I forgot that you have a Honedge. How did I forget that?"

Athena appeared with the normal flash of light, looking at her opponent. "Wait just a second, the Lillipup was only the first Pokémon? Is this Eevee going to use shadow force or something?"

"Athena, use swords dance, then fury cutter. Just repeat fury cutter until you take it down." Finn instructed, sniggering.

"Well, just because Eevee can only learn a couple moves that can even damage a ghost type doesn't mean that this'll be a piece of cake for you," Ada protested. "Neven, use bite."

"Right, Eevee learns bite. But that leaves you with one more move you can use in this battle." Finn shrugged. "Just carry on through the pain Athena, you can do it."

Just as Finn predicted, Athena didn't get hurt badly by the bite. It may have been super effective, but it was far from enough to cause Athena to flinch. After a swords dance and a fury cutter, Neven looked much worse for wear.

"Alright then Neven, use shadow ball." The gym leader instructed.

Finn froze. Honedge couldn't take a shadow ball well. Not only was it super effective, but Honedge wasn't durable when it came to 'special' attacks.

Then Neven fell over.

Both gym leader and trainer looked at the collapsed Eevee, jaws dropped.

"Ada's last Pokemon has fainted, Finnegan is the winner!" The referee declared, snapping both of them out of their dazed state.

"Poison sting. It had to be poison sting." Ada muttered, walking across the battlefield with a smile on her face. "Well done on that. I didn't expect the poison to take effect on Neven either. Usually he's so resilient to poisons, paralysis, sleep inducing moves, and ice attacks; I almost forgot that he's not immune to them."

"I didn't think that Nyx even hit properly." Finn replied, still surprised at the outcome.

"Well, as a reward for proving your versatility I present you with the adaptation badge." Ada pulled a small metal token out of her pocket.

It was in the shape of a circle, with eight other circles around it. One red, one blue, one pink, one yellow, one green, one silver, one black, and the last a veritable rainbow, the circle in the center being a pure white. Finn knew that each color represented one of the qualities a successful trainer needs, the center white being versatility, the red being wit, the blue being patience, the pink knowledge, yellow for persistence, green for modesty, silver for tactics, and black for observation. In addition, each circle represented a member of the Eevee family, the white being the standard Eevee, red Flareon, etc.

But what confused Finn was the shimmering rainbow circle, the one representing Sylveon. "What's the ninth circle?"

"Spirit." Ada replied, closing Finn's hand around the badge. "The enthusiasm to begin the journey and the connection between trainer and Pokémon. There's no gym that can teach you spirit because that's something every trainer needs to learn for themselves." The gym leader reached into her pocket and pulled out two more things. "Also take the TM for double team. It's served me well in the past, and it may do the same for you. As for this…"

In her hand was a tooth, almost large enough to be used like some sort of dagger. "Is that…?"

"A razor fang." Ada tossed it into the air and caught it again before handing it to Finn. "Your Gligar needs to evolve to fly, right? I'm not going to be able to get any use out of this thing, you need it more than me. Take it."

"I… how can I say thank you?" Finn asked, looking down at the fang in his hand.

"By using it to battle the Pokémon league." Ada said with a wink. "I have so many items from my days as a trainer that I can't use for anything. I might as well give them to people who can."

"I have a question." Finn put the fang and TM in his bag and pulled out his badge case. "Why do you just randomly have a razor fang in your pocket?"

"Well, most trainers start with a backpack or similar bag. As a gym leader I have specialized equipment." Ada chuckled. "Or in other words, bottomless pockets."

"Do all the gym leaders have bottomless pockets?" Finn put the adaptation badge in the badge case and put it back in his bag.

"Nope. By the way, I need you to register your Pokédex so that we can officially say you have the badge. You'd be surprised and disappointed how many people either lose or steal badges." Ada shook her head and gestured for Finn to follow her. "The metal badges are still popular and mass-produced, but in order to legally say you have the badge we have to register it to your trainer ID."

The two, along with Athena who was still out of her Pokéball, made their way to a back room with a large computer. Ada set both of her Pokéballs down in slots on the computer and typed something in. "Could you hand me your Pokédex?"

Finn gave his Pokédex to the gym leader, who then plugged it into the machine. As soon as the information on the two devices was transferred, Ada typed something else in, registering the adaptation badge to Finn's Pokédex and registering his Pokémon. "You've got an interesting lineup. Honedge, Gligar, and Sewaddle. Not an orthodox team, but effective."

"Only two of those," Finn muttered. "Team Plasma stole my Sewaddle."

"Damn. I know how that feels." Ada said sympathetically. "I'll mark him as stolen so that anyone who sees him can let us know. I'm sorry for your loss."

"I'm going to find him and get him back. He's still registered as mine, right?"

"Yes he is. If you can find him, reclaiming him from whoever stole his Pokéball is legal," Ada informed. The computer beeped. "Well, you officially have one gym badge now. Get out there and give 'em hell."

* * *

"Finnegan, your Pokémon are ready!"

Those words were starting to get just a little bit irritating. Finn had been in the Pokémon center daily, and had turned his Pokémon in to Nurse Joy every time he finished training. Now that he was setting out from Teret city, he would have a period of time where he wouldn't be in Pokémon centers at all.

Finn walked up to the counter and retrieved his Pokémon. "Could I have a restock of my medicine?"

"Could I see your ID please?" Nurse Joy requested.

Finn obliged, handing his Pokédex over to the pink-haired woman. After scanning it for a moment, Nurse Joy nodded. She reached under the counter and pulled out a pill bottle, carefully checking the label to make sure it was the correct medicine. "Well, this is what Professor Aspen said to give you. Are you sure you want to take this?"

"I don't have any choice." Finn answered with a shrug. "I know it's not used for much, but it's keeping me stable."

"Very well then." Nurse Joy handed the bottle to Finn with a concerned look on her face. "You know that that is only for-"

"I know." Finn cut her off. "But it's the only thing that works."

"Well… I hope you recover." Joy looked into his eyes with worry.

"I won't, but thank you anyways." Finn nodded and turned to leave.

It was time to be on the road.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Not the longest chapter, and heavy in information.**

 **So I always wanted to give the normal type gym leader an Eevee, and the whole city sorta revolved around that. Eevee was the evolution Pokemon, which means that it can do so much more than other Pokemon, although ironically only after evolution. Eevee only has a few moves that can hit ghost types, and I didn't even realize this until this chapter. Also Eevee has the ability adaptability, and I didn't even know that until I started on this chapter. Heh...**

 **Anyways, Teret City, Ada, and Neven were all named that way because palindromes, words that are the same backwards and forwards. For anyone that figured that out already, props to you!**

 **For those who don't know what the move trump card does (Because I didn't when I started this chapter) it increases in power based on the amount of PP left after you use the move. Starting at 40, then 50, 60, 80, and when it's the last use it has 200 power. It's crazy good when you have 1 PP left, and meh when you have five.**

 **As always, leave a review to let me know what you thought.**


	12. Razor Fang

What changes do evolutions bring?

Sure, there are always physical differences between pre-evolution and post-evolution, but what other changes are enacted?

According to most sources, Lotad became energetic and mischievous when it evolved, then even more so when it became a Ludicolo. Larvesta, while rare, acted like normal Pokémon, but upon evolving they became more like legendaries in behavior.

Abra gained intelligence and energy upon evolving, meaning that they would be less likely to sleep most of the time. In fact, their brains increased massively in power when they became Alakazam.

But what would happen when Nyx evolved?

All evolutions, regardless of which Pokémon it was, released an immense amount of energy. The result of this incredible release was different based on type, from massive fireballs to hurricanes. In nature the evolution was slower, and thus the energy output was vastly lessened, but that wasn't the case with evolution spurred on by a trainer. In order to prevent this unbelievably powerful energy from destroying things, most people confined evolving Pokémon to Pokéballs. But that wasn't an option with certain evolutions, as they had specific criteria. Gligar's evolution was one of those.

Some Pokémon evolved by unorthodox means. Most had evolution as part of their life-cycles, evolving as they either became older or more experienced. Some had evolution due to the link between themselves and their trainers, leading to never actually evolving in the wild.

Other Pokémon evolved because of the energy inherent in objects. The elemental stones that could cause instant evolution were a prime example of this. Some evolutions only happened because of the energy infused into a Pokémon by trading. Still more happened because the trading process fused the energy of the Pokémon and the object it was holding at the time of the trade. Gligar needed to have a razor fang at nighttime, and the adrenalin of battle would fuse the Pokémon's energy with that of the fang.

Since Gligar had to battle at night to trigger its evolution, there was next to no way to be certain it was about to evolve. With Pokémon that evolved after obtaining a certain amount of experience, it was extremely obvious when they were nearing evolution. The Pokédex registered 'levels' in order to measure the amount of battle experience a Pokémon had. The level system was far from accurate when it came to age or actual power, but it was spot on when it came to evolution. With stone evolutions or trade evolutions, the Pokémon was either already confined to its Pokéball or was controlled, as stone evolutions released much less energy while still increasing the Pokémon's internal power. But with evolutions relating to time or items held, there was almost no way to predict the evolution.

But not evolving would certainly be worse.

A flying type that couldn't fly was extremely pitiful. The ground type immunity was effectively removed, leaving it all the weaker.

It was already nearly nightfall, which meant that Finn needed to make a decision.

Nyx still didn't know about the razor fang yet, which meant that if Finn wanted to, he could keep it a secret. But that would be cruel to the Gligar, who valued her freedom so much. It was still the same day as when he had gotten the fang, and there was no real time limit on Gligar evolution. Sure things were different based on how long the Gligar waited before evolution, but not by enough to be notable. Technically speaking, he could wait.

But should he?

Athena was still in her Pokéball when Finn finally got camp set up. He had at most an hour before it would be full sundown, when he had to make his decision.

With a sigh, Finn shook his head. He cared more about the emotional and physical state of his Pokémon than he did about the surrounding environment. He had no idea what sort of effect a Gligar's evolution would have, but it would be worth it if it made it possible for Nyx to fly.

Even if that meant that he would have to let her go to honor their agreement.

In the three weeks he had known her, he had grown attached to the scorpion. Initially he had been reluctant, feeling like he might forget Harvest, but she had her own place in his heart, one that Finn didn't exactly want to let go of.

But he had to.

There were only forty-five minutes left until it was full night time, and Finn still hadn't made a decision.

After a couple more moments of deliberation, Finn let both of his Pokémon out. He was going to make Nyx happy, consequences be damned. He didn't care if it would cause earthquakes or windstorms, Nyx was going to fly.

Light flooded out of the two Pokéballs, the first coalescing into a levitating sword and the second into the bipedal scorpion that Finn had recently grown fond of.

"Why were we stuck in there so long?" Athena asked, reminding Finn that she did not like the confines of the Pokéball. Nyx chittered in agreement, giving Finn a questioning glance.

"I had some things to think about. Didn't want to have any company." Finn replied, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about that. I've already got camp set up though."

Athena stretched. "What were you thinking about?"

"Just… things." Finn sighed. "It's not important right now. What is important is this."

Finn reached into his bag and dug around, quickly locating and pulling out the razor fang. Nyx cocked her head at the sight of it, chittering in curiosity. Athena's eye widened. "So we're going to…?"

"Yep. Tonight, Nyx is going to evolve."

As soon as Finn spoke those words the Gligar jumped towards him, wrapping her clawed arms around him in a hug. Finn laughed and stepped back as the surprisingly heavy Pokémon slammed into him. "Hey, don't be so excited, we've still got to get to it."

Nyx dropped off of him and looked up excitedly. Finn chuckled and handed the fang over to the scorpion, who took it and held it in both claws. She hopped around excitedly, raising the razor fang to show it to Athena. The Honedge laughed. "Yes, I see your new toy."

That raised an important thought, which of his Pokémon was the oldest? Athena was certainly more mature and cynical than both Nyx and Harvest, but he knew that she couldn't be much older than a couple years. Nyx was probably fairly young, based purely off of her excitable nature and the fact that she was still alive. She may be larger than other Gligar, but she couldn't hunt properly without flight.

Finn checked his watch and the skyline. Nightfall would be soon enough. "Alright, now both of you need to battle."

Both of the Pokémon looked at him like he was crazy. The teen sighed and explained quickly. "Gligar can only evolve in battle, at night time, with a razor fang in hand. Nightfall is just a little bit away, and frankly I want to sleep tonight."

"So basically our plan is to evolve Nyx instantly after nightfall, just so you can go to sleep?" Athena asked scathingly.

"More or less," Finn answered chucking. "Although I'd rather stay awake until Nyx evolves before going to sleep, as long as that takes."

"In that case, let's get to business." Athena's blade lit up and she swung at Nyx, surprising both Finn and the Gligar.

Nyx's claws lit up as she blocked the swing, swinging her tail around to stab ineffectually at Athena's blade. The scorpion's eyes widened as she realized that her poison stings weren't doing anything, and changed tactics quickly. Pushing Athena back, Nyx's claws took on their shadowy coverings as she used night slash, forcing Athena to retreat a good deal to avoid the hits. The Honedge vanished into shadows, reappearing behind Nyx with a slashing motion. Even though there wasn't a scratch on her, Nyx stumbled forwards as Athena's blade phased through her.

The battle went back and forth like this for quite a while, both of them refraining from using moves that would cause permanent injury or damage that would be difficult to fix.

Then Nyx pulled a move that changed the battle entirely. The scorpion jumped back and scrambled up a tree, jabbing her stinger into it as hard as she could. Splinters flew out from the impact, but Nyx's tail remained embedded in the wood. The ground type let go with her claws and feet, swinging downwards towards Athena with a night slash lining her exoskeletal claws. With an X-shaped slash, Nyx launched the steel type into the ground, taking her down for the count.

With a tug on her tail, Nyx pulled herself back up, grabbing onto the tree with her claws. The Gligar climbed even higher up the tree and stared down at Finn, a slightly confused and tense look on her face.

Then she jumped.

The Gligar's whole body lit up, her tail growing to nearly the same size as her now-taller body. Said tail whipped around and wrapped around Finn's waist, pulling him off the ground before he could gasp. Nyx flew upwards into the air with Finn wrapped up in her prehensile tail, chittering excitedly.

Nyx vanished into the night sky with Finn in her grasp, the scorpion looked down at Finn and smiled, her yellow eyes glowing in the dark. The Gliscor opened her mouth wide and laughed.

"Hahahah! Woo-hoo!"

Finn's jaw dropped as, instead of her normal chitters, Nyx spoke in the human language. Her voice was light, and not at all what you would expect from an insect-like creature.

Now that Nyx was evolved, her wing was no longer attached to her arms. She showed this to Finn by tossing him forwards and catching him in her clawed arms. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

Nyx's new body was strong too, strong enough to securely clasp him to her torso. Her claws were hollow now, looking like those of a Scizor rather than a Scorupi. Her tail was two-pronged, like a pair of fangs. While her feet were still two toed, they were now on the same side than on the front and back. Her waist was thinner than her upper torso, being red and lined. Instead of being like an Emolga, her wings were now a single black wing, attached to her back separately from her limbs.

The Gliscor tilted her head worriedly. "Finn? Are you okay? Did I squeeze too hard?"

That snapped him out of his stupor. "Y-you can talk now!"

"Umm…?" Nyx raised an eye ridge. "Nothing really changed…?"

"I mean, I can understand you! Athena probably told you about it, right?" Finn explained ecstatically.

"Yes, she did. She said that you understand her when she speaks, but I never understood what she meant." Nyx lashed her tail. "So you mean humans can't understand us normally?"

"You didn't realize?" Finn asked.

"You always seemed to understand. At least, after the sword repeated what I said," The Gliscor replied. "I haven't had to deal with too many other humans."

"But what changed so that I can-"

He was cut off by a tree. Nyx took the brunt of the impact, but seeing as she was exoskeletal, the hit still hurt quite a bit. The two tumbled to the ground, Nyx still holding him tight in order to keep Finn safe. The Gliscor hit the ground hard.

"Nyx, you okay?"

"I need to watch where I'm flying…" The scorpion groaned in response. "Otherwise, I think I'm fine."

"Good to hear, good to hear." Finn paused for a bit. "Can you get off me please?"

"Right."

Nyx rolled off of Finn, groaning in pain. "I'm hurting. Please help me."

Finn looked Nyx over. "Well, good news is, you're not badly injured. Mostly just impact injuries. My bag is back at camp though, so I can't exactly use a potion." The human scratched his head. "I can try carrying you, but you're a lot bigger than before. I heard that Gliscor are lighter than Gligar, but there's really only one way to figure it out."

The teen knelt down and reached towards Nyx. With a grunt of effort, he managed to lift her off of the ground. Luckily, she certainly was a lot lighter now that she had evolved. The problem was that she was also a lot closer to his height when not counting the tail, and a good two feet taller than him if you did count the tail. After a bit of struggling, Finn managed to get Nyx on his back, sort of like a piggyback ride.

"So, before we hit the tree. What were you saying?" Nyx asked once she was in place.

"I was wondering what changed when I started to understand you." Finn replied. "With Athena, it happened after she nearly killed me by draining my life energy. I have no idea what happened, but now I can understand her, and you too now."

"When did you start understanding me?" Nyx rested her head on top of his.

"Right after you took off, immediately before you tossed me up to your arms." Finn answered. "What changed right then?"

"Well…" Nyx dropped off in thought. "I guess that's when… when I started to think of you as a true friend rather than just a trainer."

That made Finn think. What exactly did that mean? Did Athena think of him as a friend immediately after nearly killing him then? And if it was just their friendship that did it, how was it that other trainers, who had closer bonds with their Pokémon than he did, couldn't understand their own Pokémon? Perhaps it had something to do with his unique condition…

"What are you thinking about?" Nyx inquired softly.

"Not much." Finn shook his head, careful not to dislodge Nyx's. "I'm pretty sure Athena's freaking out right about now. She does that. Can you hear her?"

"Hmm…" Nyx was silent for a few moments. "Yeah. She's right ahead."

Finn put his left hand up to his mouth in a half cone. "ATHENA! WE'RE OUT HERE! BRING MY BAG!"

Nyx flinched, muttering about the volume as a semi-metallic voice called back. "FINN! WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"JUST BRING MY BAG!" Finn shouted. "Sorry Nyx."

"'s fine. Just let my ears stop ringing…" The scorpion muttered.

Since Nyx had evolved, her ears had become bigger and much more sensitive, which reminded Finn that he still needed to scan her with his Pokédex. Now that Athena was on her way with his bag, he could afford to slow down a bit and scan the newly evolved Pokémon. He quickly dug the rectangular device out of his pocket and activated it, pointing the lens at the large purple Pokémon on his back.

[Nyx]

[Gliscor]

[Fang Scorpion Pokémon]

[Type: Ground/Flying]

[Ability: Hyper Cutter. This Pokémon cannot have its strength reduced by any means.]

[Gender: Female]

[Like its previous form, Gliscor are nocturnal Pokémon. They are capable of echolocation, their hearing being almost as good as that of Zubat. Gliscor use wind to fly instead of just height, capable of going miles on a small breeze. Their fangs can emit energies of all kinds, usually elemental power. The tail of a Gliscor is arguably its most important body part, as it is usable to hang from trees, wrap around its prey, and to initiate many of its more powerful attacks.]

Finn whistled in appreciation. "Wow, Gliscor are considerably stronger than Gligar."

"I feel so much better about life." Nyx replied sarcastically.

"Seriously, you could fly miles on a mild breeze, coat your teeth in elemental energy, and trap people in your tail." Finn considered for a moment. "Although you already knew most of that."

"Tail to trap people, check. Flying, check. Haven't tried conjuring electricity or fire on my fangs yet." Nyx listed.

"Finn!"

"Athena! Over here!" Finn gently set Nyx down under a tree as the Honedge approached, dragging Finn's back along with her. The human quickly rushed over and picked his back up, slinging it over his shoulder so he could pull a potion out. Quickly spraying it on Nyx, the potion took effect almost immediately, healing the yellow bruises on her exoskeleton. Nyx climbed to her feet quickly, looking around the dark area.

"Okay then, I'm off to bed. You two night owls, or ghost and scorpion, as it were, can have fun." Finn picked up his bag and stumbled off to camp.

He was out before the hour ended.

* * *

Finn awoke to the realization that he had just released one of his Pokémon forever.

The last thing he did before going to sleep was…

Releasing Nyx.

Not actually disconnecting the Pokéball from the Pokémon, but giving her permission to go wherever she wanted. She had only been his Pokémon until he managed to evolve her. That had been the agreement. Now that she was a Gliscor, there was no reason for her to stay with him. In effect, he had lost a friend.

That wasn't to say that he was sad about Nyx evolving, quite the opposite really. It was a joyous occasion when a Pokémon evolved, and even more so when it cured or fixed a problem that they had before evolving. Now that Nyx had evolved, she could fly as much as she wanted, using even a light breeze to fly through the air without so much as a noise. Nyx could now survive in the wild without a problem.

Then Finn realized what it was that woke him up.

What was that incredible smell?

Finn sat upright and rubbed his eyes. He didn't bother with a tent out here because the only possible environmental issue was either bug types or rain. The former didn't worry him because Athena didn't need to sleep and could keep an eye out, and the latter was, well, forecast. Since he just had a bedroll and a ground pad, he could see the whole camp from his bed.

Including the cooking pot over the campfire.

And the giant scorpion who was stirring it with a spoon.

The teen blinked a couple times. "Nyx?"

Said scorpion looked up from the cooking pot and smiled. "Good morning Finn!"

"What are you doing here? And why are you cooking?" Finn asked, still blinking to see if it made this any less real.

"Well, since you let both me and Athena out of our Pokéballs when you sleep, I just watched television while you were asleep. Athena showed me how to operate the remote, so I put it on the cooking channel. Nothing better was on." Nyx shrugged. "Being nocturnal has its perks."

"I have a cooking Gliscor." Finn muttered, falling back on his bedroll. "A cooking Gliscor and a bookworm Honedge. What's next, a dancing Shroomish?"

Nyx giggled. "Then you'd have to catch a singing Gyarados to provide the tune."

"You never did answer my question." Finn said suddenly, sitting up again. "Why are you still here?"

"Well…" Nyx stared at the pot for a bit. "You're my friend now. A human who can understand Pokémon." She looked up at Finn. "Plus, Athena told me about your condition, and how you'll occasionally black out or have seizures. She can't help you when you're a long distance from a city, shadow sneak is line of sight. The last thing I want is for you to suffer because I wasn't there to carry you to safety."

"So you're staying?" Finn asked hopefully.

"I couldn't leave if I tried."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Nah, I'm not going to get you guys attached to Nyx just to have her leave. I already did that with another bug.**

 **Nyx is going to stick with Finn. I figured that every travelling group needs a cook, and since Finn himself can't cook at all, I should have one of his Pokémon do it. Nyx just made the most sense.**

 **As always, leave a review to let me know what you think!**


	13. Jitters

Despite how well many people treat their Pokémon, there's always the same question.

Is it right to capture and control these creatures?

Thinking about it, many people would come to the realization that Pokémon battles can be brutal. You've got two creatures, both capable of killing a grown man with little effort, and you're having the two of them battle each other to exhaustion. Then you add in the fact that there are moves that can be lethal with no effort at all, and you may conclude that Pokémon battling is cruel and unethical.

For example, the move guillotine is a brutal attack, named after the archaic and banned device that is used to decapitate someone. Like the machine, the move strikes at the target's throat with a blade or claw of some sort, often slicing straight through the skin to pinch the nerves of the opponent. As someone may guess, guillotine can and has killed Pokémon before, because the victim of the attack was unable to get to medical attention in time.

Another move, classified like guillotine as a 'one hit KO', named fissure is similarly deadly. Fissure drops the opponent in a hole in the ground, trapping them and quite possibly killing them as the hole closes. Then there's sheer cold, which drops the target and a large area around it into temperatures that are otherwise impossible to see outside of extremely controlled laboratories. The last of these 'OHKO' moves is horn drill, which can pierce through armor, skin, bone flesh, and exoskeletal chitin to strike directly at an opponent's vitals.

All of these moves are banned in competitive tournaments due to the fact that they can kill an opposing Pokémon with little warning.

So taking this into account, is it still right to capture Pokémon and have them battle?

Actually, yes.

Consider this for a moment.

Few Pokémon could learn any moves that can kill an opponent quickly. The few that can generally utilize moves that are actually useful in combat. Guillotine, sheer cold, fissure, and horn drill are all moves that rarely land properly. They have massive charge up times, allowing the opponent to see them coming, and it's impossible for the Pokémon to change targets while it charges. Stepping a few feet to the left or right is more than enough to evade these attacks.

Then there's the fact that many Pokémon can actually survive decapitation.

That's right, decapitation does not kill Pokémon.

Well, not entirely true. If treated immediately by the healing machines in a Pokémon center the Pokémon can heal their injuries, regardless of how potentially lethal they are. Recalling a Pokémon to their Pokéball also sends them into stasis, allowing you to hold a Pokémon that is in critical condition until it is possible to save their life at a Pokémon center. Pokémon that suffer such an injury in the wild are almost certainly doomed, but a trainer Pokémon whose trainer has, say, half a brain, will usually survive until old age.

And all this without mentioning evolution.

Some Pokémon cannot evolve without human intervention. The most widely known example of this lies in Riolu, who can only evolve after their aura and that of their trainer become one. Gligar are another species that rarely evolve without human assistance. Razor fangs are rare in nature, as they only come from elderly Gliscor, and since Gliscor are rare, Gligar don't evolve often; leading inevitably to a cycle of less and less Gliscor.

Really the only way a Pokemon doesn't win out on having a trainer is when that trainer is flat out incompetent.

Or cruel.

* * *

"Is it… a tree?"

"Nope."

"A Trapinch?"

"Not quite."

Finn sighed. Athena and Nyx had been playing I Spy for the past hour or so, and Nyx always wound up finding something that Athena couldn't guess. Finn had participated for the first ten minutes, but since Athena could travel through the mountain and Nyx could climb trees, there was almost no way for him to think of something they found. One time Athena had gone into the mountain for a solid minute, her blade phasing through the stone. When she came out again, Finn had tried to guess what she had seen. Turned out there was a Volcarona under the mountain, and it was slightly disgruntled when the Honedge appeared out of nowhere.

"Maybe… a Trevenant?"

"Still no."

Then there was the fact that Nyx could climb a stone wall with the same ease as a human would walking. She was still clumsy when it came to flight, but she was able to at least circle an area and get a point of view neither Finn nor Athena possibly could.

"Is it…"

"Give up yet?" Nyx asked innocently.

"No." Athena glared at the Gliscor. "Is it a Tyrunt?"

"Not even close." Nyx replied smugly. "You're not going to get it~"

"Tyranitar?" Athena guessed randomly.

"No."

"Fine. I give up. What is it?" Athena surrendered.

The ground under Finn vanished, and his entire point of view flipped. His ankle was tugged out from under him, dangling him by his leg and leaving his head a few feet above the ground. Athena shrieked in surprise as she was dropped out of her sheath. Finn groaned. "Lemme guess, trap?"

"Finn got it in one. Athena, you need to pay more attention." Nyx teased, laughing at the Honedge.

"It was hidden, how is that supposed to be fair?" Athena complained.

"I have two Pokemon who have razor sharp claws or a blade, and neither of them is helping me get out of this." Finn muttered. "Love this."

"Well, you tried to say that the Volcarona under the mountain was fair, but I couldn't see that." Nyx retorted.

"Ehhh, touché." Athena admitted. "But Finn could've gotten hurt by the trap. What if it was a pitfall, or shot arrows at him?"

"Seriously, loving the view," Finn commented, still hanging upside down. "But could you cut me down?"

"Right. Cutting the human down now." Athena swung herself around, slicing through the rope that had held Finn in the air. Despite the bump on the head, he landed more or less fine. A couple more bruises, but nothing else.

"Who even puts a snare in the middle of the mountains anyway…" Finn groaned, getting up and pulling the loop of the rope off of his leg, only to find that it wasn't a rope, but some sort of white silk. "What is this stuff…?"

"HEY YOU! WHAT DO YOU THINK YER DOIN' WITH MY SNARE?!"

That would be the reason that there was a trap in the middle of a mountain trail. A big, burly, and very angry man was marching straight towards Finn. "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN DISMANTLE MY TRAPS BOY?"

"Well-" Finn began, only to be cut off.

"I'm sick of you entitled kids thinkin' that you can just traipse through my hunting grounds and cutting up my snares! I'll have you know that I applied for my trapper's license, and I'll not have you damn trainers keeping me from my job!" The man ranted, waving his finger in Finn's face.

There was a soft _shhhng_ of metal on metal, and Athena swung around to rest her blade at the man's throat. "Can I please give him a few nicks? Please?"

"C-call yer Pokémon off," The man stuttered, still holding his bravado. "You can't do this, I'm a legal buinness man, and you have no right to threaten me."

Despite the man's brave façade, Finn could clearly see that he was downright terrified of Athena. Not that he was surprised. Most people didn't like Ghost types, and the Honedge line was infamous for its brutality and ability to kill people. "Stand down Athena, we just have a little misunderstanding."

"Hmph." Athena quickly re-sheathed herself. "Should've let me give him a couple slices."

"Sir, I'm sorry for damaging your snare, but it was in the middle of the trail. I triggered it on accident, and if my Pokémon hadn't cut me down I would have been dangling there for a while." Finn explained calmly.

"Well make sure it doesn't happen again, or I'll make sure Arachne teaches you and yer Pokémon a lesson." The trapper growled. As if on cue, a massive purple and black spider appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. The thing was clearly much larger than the average specimen of its species.

Finn pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket and raised it up. "May I scan your Pokémon?"

"So long as it don't do nothin' to her." The man acquiesced, resting his hand on top of the massive creature's head. "Took me years to get ahold of one-a these babies, and she's a queen."

[Arachne]

[Ariados]

[Long Leg Pokemon]

[Type: Bug/Poison]

[!HIDDEN! Ability: Sniper. This Pokemon strikes at its opponent's weak points, making its strong attacks more dangerous.]

[Gender: Female]

[!SHINY!]

[While more than capable of making a large web, Ariados generally wander around, never settling in one place for long periods of time. Ariados are extremely cunning creatures, using their prey in order to net more food by setting their victim free with a long thread attached. Surprisingly, Ariados can teleport, utilize psychic powers, and leap massive distances.]

"I've never seen an Ariados that big, and apparently its ability is 'hidden'?" Finn asked more than stated, trying to learn more.

"Oh yeah, Arachne's a rare one. The rare shiny coloration variant, an ability that most Ariados don't have, and almost twice the size of a normal one? Yes please." The trapper sounded pleased now that Finn was complimenting his Pokémon, although he doubtless took it as a compliment to himself as well. "And she can keep wild Pokémon from escaping at the same time she incapacitates them. Much better than some other Pokémon I had. She can sit still too…" The man trailed off at the end. He snapped back to attention, his angry manner gone now that Finn had apologized. "M'name's Duncan. As you may've guessed, I'm one of the best trappers this side of Aspertia, and that's up in Unova."

"Finn." Finn decided that he didn't like Duncan. He was too focused on the rarity and use of a Pokémon than who that Pokémon was. Then there was the fact that he talked about his other Pokémon in past tense, meaning that he probably released them. "Can I ask where you found your Ariados?"

"This beauty's mother was all the way from Johto, her father was a Unovan Scolipede." Duncan scratched Arachne's head. "'s why she's so big, as well as shiny. Pokemon bred from Pokemon from different regions are more likely to have shiny colors. Kid, if you ever meet a man named Ferris, buy one of 'is Pokémon, lemme tell you."

Finn burst into laughter at that, confusing Duncan immensely. "I know that, he's my dad."

"Hold on, yer pa's the great Ferris, master breeder?" Duncan asked, his jaw dropped. "Gee, I'm sorry fer bein' so rude to ya. Anythin' I can do to make it up to you?"

And that sealed Finn's opinion. Now that he was judging Finn solely on who his parents were, it cemented the man as shallow. "I just want to know which way through the mountains to Canyen City."

"Oh, is that all?" The man sounded relieved. "It's that way, straight north. Can't miss it, situated on a great big hole in the ground. If ya see any rare Pokémon, please lemme know."

"Thanks." Finn set off along the trail.

After a few minutes of walking, Nyx hopped up next to him. "I can tell you didn't like him."

"Too worried about his social status than his Pokémon." Finn scoffed. "He'd probably give me that Ariados if he thought it would get him a good reputation with my father."

"To be fair though, from what I've heard of your father, he's some sort of celebrity in the training community." Nyx replied.

"He's a world-famous breeder who has a talent for getting his hands on Pokemon with the shiny gene, rare abilities, and superlative genes." Finn shrugged. "Not to mention his battle skill and extreme wealth. He's not a celebrity like Elesa from Unova, but he is certainly well known to most trainers, and everyone else who has anything to do with Pokémon. That doesn't make Duncan wanting to sell his Pokemon for fame any better."

"You're right." Nyx nodded. "I would hate to be sold off like an object."

"Dad only sells eggs, before he gets attached to them. He has an Alakazam that tells him what the egg will hatch into, and what qualities it'll have. You'd be surprised how many people think he's ripping them off at first, seeing as shiny eggs are identical to normal eggs." Finn explained. "Selling baby Pokémon and eggs is one thing, but trading off a Pokémon that not only knows what you're doing, and has developed a bond with you? That's just… cruel."

"What does a Pokémon breeder do, anyways?" Athena asked from her position on Finn's shoulder.

"Well, they always have several rare Pokémon. Some do absolutely no Pokémon battling, but most of the more successful breeders are or were trainers at some point. For the most part, their job is handling which Pokémon can handle the presence of which other Pokémon, managing baby Pokémon, and persuading their own Pokémon to breed with another species entirely." Finn laughed. "Apparently it gets ironed out after a few years as rarer Pokémon find mates they can stand, but the baby Pokémon are still a handful."

The three were silent for a while, then Nyx spoke. "I don't think I want any hatchlings."

Athena burst into sniggers. "Where'd that come from?"

"Well, I-" Nyx stuttered. "I thought we were sharing, and I didn't want to go completely off-topic."

"I suppose it's valid." Finn commented, grinning. "I have no intentions of having many more than six Pokémon. Wouldn't be fair, I suppose."

"Now that we're done sharing, Finn should watch where he's going." Athena interrupted.

As per usual, Finn put his foot down on the wrong spot and started sliding downhill, crying out in surprise. This was maybe the third time he had started falling down the mountain in as many days, but he wasn't exactly surprised that it had happened. It was just his luck.

Like the last time, Nyx reacted quickly. Her tail shot out and wrapped around his outstretched arm, tugging him back up to the trail. Finn stumbled back onto the hardened dirt trail, grunting in pain. "Twisted my ankle."

"To be honest, I'm surprised you didn't before now." Athena remarked.

"I'll go get you a walking stick." Nyx waddled off, hopping from time to time to accelerate her motion. She still wasn't comfortable flying, or balancing on her tail. She was certainly better at walking than other Gliscor though.

Finn sat down on a boulder, favoring his injured ankle. "So, what do you think of Nyx?"

"You're asking this now?" Athena snorted. "After a month of knowing her?"

"I get the feeling you wouldn't tell me if she was here," Finn replied. "C'mon, you're my first Pokémon. If you have any issues with my other Pokémon, I need to know. You were irritated with Harvest, and now you're irritated with Nyx."

Athena sighed, an odd metallic sound. "She doesn't understand the seriousness of some situations, she's like a child. Just like that Sewaddle. Neither of them understands!"

"I think I understand what the problem is." Finn pulled the hand-exercise device out of his bag and put it in his right hand. "You're a ghost type. Not only that, but a steel type too. You won't be dying of old age, and disease and battle stand little danger to you. As a species, Honedge are cynical and planning, kinda why I named you after a goddess of wisdom and strategy." Finn squeezed his right hand. "On the other hand, neither Sewaddle nor Gligar - and by extension Gliscor – live for more than fifty years on average. Exoskeletal Pokémon only live a few decades, leading to being more childlike. They know their lives are short, so they try to see the wonder of everything."

The Honedge remained silent for a while. "I never thought of it like that…"

"When you get a new perspective, things change." Finn shrugged, looking around.

The two of them stayed in an awkward silence for a long time, the one deep in thought and the other waiting patiently. Eventually, Nyx returned with a suitable walking stick wrapped up in her tail, and both of her claws closed before her.

"Okay, pick a claw." Nyx held both arms out, her tail holding the walking stich behind her.

"Why?" Finn asked, perplexed.

"Come on, just pick a claw." The Gliscor prodded.

"Umm… this one." Finn tapped Nyx's right claw.

Nyx opened her claw to reveal a small yellow ball of fuzz. A quartet of blue eyes opened, staring up at Finn, and the tiny creature peeped. The Pokemon retreated, shaking the whole time. Nyx crooned comfortingly. "It's okay, Finn's nice. He helped me evolve. And he won't get rid of you like your last trainer, that nasty man."

"Nyx, where did you find a Joltik?" Finn asked with a sigh.

"Well, he was out on the mountain. That trapper guy left him there after bringing him here. He's so cute, I couldn't just leave him!" Nyx carefully moved the Joltik out of her claw and nuzzled him with the side of her head. "He was so lonely, he's just a little Joltik!"

"Duncan brought him here?" Finn muttered. "But Joltik don't live here. In fact, the closest native Joltik habitat is actually Bluebell City…"

"Can we keep him? Please?" Nyx pleaded, holding the Joltik close.

"Does he want to stay?" Finn pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket to scan the yellow arachnid.

As Nyx was asking the Joltik a question, Finn scanned it.

[Jitters]

[Joltik]

[Attaching Pokémon]

[Type: Bug/Electric]

[Ability: Compound Eyes. This Pokémon has multifaceted eyes, allowing it to hit unreliable moves with greater accuracy.]

[Gender: Male]

[This Pokémon has been released.]

[Joltik are incapable of generating their own electricity, though they can store it in greater quantities than one would expect. In order to obtain this electricity, Joltic attach themselves to larger Pokémon to obtain static electricity. They may also steal electricity from outlets.]

"He has no idea how to survive in the mountains, so can he come with us _pleaaasee_?" Nyx was almost begging.

"Well…" Finn put his Pokédex away and grabbed a Pokéball. "If he wants to come with us, he can. So then Jitters, how about it?"

The tiny Pokémon crept closer, occasionally twitching. It was clear how he got his name, the Joltik didn't seem able to sit still. Finn probably should've guessed. Being an electric type meant that Joltik had mental and nervous disorders far more often than other Pokémon, and considering some kinds of disorders possible, being jittery wasn't that bad.

Jitters tapped his forehead to the button on the Pokéball, vanishing into the ball with a flash of light. The ball didn't even wobble once before clicking to confirm the capture. Finn immediately let the Joltik out of the Pokéball.

"Alright Jitters. Welcome to the team."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So, meet Jitters, the third member of Finn's team. So named because of his inability to sit still.**

 **This chapter's kinda dense, sorry about that.**

 **I have no idea when I can update, so don't expect any regularity in new chapters.**

 **As always, let me know what you liked by reviewing.**


	14. Wit

Flight.

The true expression of freedom.

Or at least, according to those who can, in fact, fly.

There are a great deal of Pokémon who can fly, and more than one is capable of full on communication with humans. Chatot, Natu, and Xatu are all capable of communicating coherently with humans, as well as free flight. There were also several psychic types that had the ability to levitate, which was equivalent to flight, minus the wings.

In Kalos, there were customized flight suits that could allow someone to stay in the air for long periods of time, provided there was a sufficient updraft. Every region had at least one airport, and within them there were multiple planes, including single person trick planes that could give someone freedom in the air. Then there were Pokémon that could straight up carry a human being in the air, again giving them the freedom of flight that is otherwise inaccessible.

Nyx agreed with the statement that flight was the best way to express her freedom, even if she had yet to master her airborne capability.

In fact, Nyx was still working on her control over her new abilities. She had mastered ice fang and thunder fang in order to help with the next gym, but her tail was mostly still used as a third arm. She didn't balance on it properly as she needed to if she wanted to become airborne from the ground, and while she could use it for poison sting, it was useless for other attacks. Not that she had other attacks she needed her tail for, but it would help immensely.

Then there was her flight. She was clumsy at best, and that was only when she even managed to get airborne. That was the hardest part. The few times she managed to get into the air without jumping off a cliff, she only flew for a few minutes before crashing.

"Alright Nyx, let's try this again." Finn instructed. "Balance on your tail, then launch."

As Finn instructed, the Gliscor pressed the flat side of her tail to the ground, and pushed herself up. With her back wing extended for balance, she stayed up for a solid thirty seconds without wobbling, then flicked the tip of her tail to launch her light body. Her wing spread further, supporting her in the air, and she rode the breeze easily.

The Gliscor laughed happily as she glided through the air, finally obtaining a good deal of control over her airborne abilities.

 _"On your guard, Finnegan."_

Finn grabbed Athena's grip and unsheathed her, to her mild protests. He whirled and raised her blade up, blocking a downwards strike by a familiar green blade. "That's hardly fair, Rath."

 _"A warrior must be prepared for anything."_ The Gallade replied curtly, bringing his other arm around to rest the tip of its blade on the hollow of Finn's chest. _"And you were not prepared."_

To the psychic's evident surprise, a large shape dropped down, pinning Rath to the ground and binding his arms with a prehensile tail. "Who are you, and why are you attacking Finn?"

"Its fine, Nyx, he's a friend." Finn explained, shooing the scorpion off of the downed Pokémon. "He trained me in swordsmanship, doing some weird psychic crap to give me combat skills. I didn't think I'd see him again after that. Why are you here, Rath?"

 _"Your training is incomplete. You know how to swing a sword, bravo, but that is not the whole of combat."_ Rath pushed himself up in one fluid movement, brushing dirt off of his smooth skin. _"But on your Pokémon training front, I see that you have made some advancements."_

"Ah, yes. I caught three more Pokémon since last time. You've already 'met' Nyx." Finn sheathed Athena and looked around. "Jitters is… somewhere around here. Little guy doesn't much like me, he clings to Nyx all the time. "

 _"And the third?"_ Rath asked.

"Um…" Finn trailed off. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Out of the corner of his eye, Finn saw Nyx picking a small yellow creature up off the ground. When Jitters chittered a question, Nyx silenced him by saying "I'll tell you later."

"Anyways, I've been thinking. Since you're a psychic type, maybe you could tell me about how I can communicate with my Pokémon, despite the fact that I don't have any psychics or translators." Finn suggested, changing the subject.

 _"Hmm…"_ the Gallade placed his hand on Finn's forehead for a moment, then widened his eyes in surprise. _"I can tell you one thing, it has nothing to do with psionic capabilities or intentional auric power."_

"What does that mean?" Finn raised an eyebrow.

 _"All living things have an aura, a life-force that radiates around them. Few Pokémon or humans can sense aura, and among Pokémon it is almost only by contact,"_ Rath explained. _"Though all Pokémon can perceive auric effects."_

"I knew the first part, and the second part makes some sense. What about… sionic capabilities?"

 _"More commonly known as psychic power. You have some potential, as most humans do, but it is blocked by your… unique aura."_

"And how is my aura unique?" Finn asked.

 _"Your Aura repels my own, rejecting it. This effect no doubt impacts your ability to bond with your Pokémon."_ Rath shook his head in surprise. _"Yet it is not an ordinary dark aura. It has changed, becoming truly unrecognizable. You must forgive my lack of extensive knowledge on this subject, auric power is not my forte. All I know is that those with dark, repelling auras cannot utilize auric power. They cannot sense aura, transfer aura, or manifest their aura into objects; in addition, they rarely if ever bond with Pokémon, being lonely for most of their lives. I have seen but a few humans with this aura, and only one Pokémon, but I am certain that humans with this auric trait are not born with it, but have it inflicted upon them."_

"Inflicted…" Finn looked down at himself. "So someone did this to me?"

 _"As I said, aura is not my forte. I am only partially able to utilize aura, as many other Pokémon are. Perhaps if you enlisted the aid of a human aura expert or a Lucario, they would know more."_ Rath took his hand off of Finn's forehead and shrugged. _"What little I can discern as me very, very confused."_

"Then… I guess we'd better get to the reason you're here, huh?" Finn grabbed Athena's grip, again to her mild protest. "What's today's lesson?"

 _"Footwork,"_

Immediately the Gallade launched into a flurry of slashes, forcing Finn to raise Athena's bade to defend himself. Her sash wrapped around his arm and guided him, enhancing his ability to block the slashes. Yet he wasn't quite able to keep up with his feet, and-

 _Master slashed furiously, forcing him to battle defensively. He was fast, very fast, but Master was faster yet, and there wasn't much more he could do than keep Master's sword at bay. As he was driven further and further back, he came to the sudden realization that he was about to fall over. Immediately after he did so, Master placed the sword's tip against his chest, laughing heartily._

"As I said, Ratherian,

 _"Footwork."_

Finn blinked a couple times, realizing that he was on the ground, with the tip of a Gallade's arm blade pointed at his chest. Gone was the dojo with Master dueling him, and instead of Master admonishing his failure, it was Rath. "What just happened?"

Rath raised an eye ridge and stepped back. _"I transferred more of my knowledge to you, to accelerate your learning process. You zoned out, but fought on regardless, then tripped."_

"I saw… saw…" What had he seen? He hadn't been himself, that was for sure. He didn't know who the man he had dueled was either, and the dojo was a place he had never been to before. "A… memory."

 _"Perhaps that is enough for today, then."_ Rath's elbow blades shrank back into his arms. _"Best of luck to you, friend. I hope you learn about your auric condition."_

The Gallade bowed, and as he straightened, vanished.

Finn took a deep breath and let it out. "Psychics are weird."

"Too right." Athena agreed. "Now can you sheathe me please?"

* * *

Canyen City, the home of the flying type gym and the Toreta region's mint. Funnily enough, the mint was also the gym, serving double duty because the gym leader, an energetic girl named Heather, was the daughter of the city's mayor. In addition, the whole city had a large BASE jumping community. Considering that the city was built over and around the largest canyon on the continent, the name of the city and the hobbies of its people weren't surprising.

Naturally, Finn's first stop was at the Pokémon center in order to get his Pokémon to full health and to receive a diagnosis on Jitters. As he expected, the Joltik had a mental disorder, as was common with electric types. Specifically, Jitters had a nervous system tic, preventing him from sitting still for long. The irony of it was rather amusing though. The tick had a tic.

But the main attraction of Canyen City was, of course, the gym.

While Nyx did need to learn how to fly properly in order to hunt, she also needed to know how to fly in order to battle other flying types. She had type advantage in the form of ice and thunder fang, as well as the ability to fly alongside her opponents in order to get in close for those attacks. Jitters may have the blatant type advantage, being an electric type, but Nyx would be his lead in order to try and wear down Heather's Pokémon as much as possible so that the Joltik would be able to finish it up.

The Gym itself had a challenge that tested a challenger's ability to process information quickly, meshing with the gym theme of wit, or reaction.

As Finn stood just inside the doors, he looked at the rules board. "Let's see… each door has a timer after you enter the room, locking it if you fail to go in fast enough. Go through the wrong door, and the corridor takes you back to the start. Couple that with simple math problems on each door and a legend in each room that has a riddle to tell you which is the correct answer…"

Footsteps heralded the arrival of someone else, coming down the exit corridor. He turned to look, and was surprised to see that it was Darrell, swaggering his way down the hall with his badge case in hand.

"Oh look, it's the cripple." Darrell sneered. "So how's your life been? Crappy as usual?"

"Actually, I'm doing pretty good." Finn gave a double thumbs up, showing clearly that his right hand was in full working order now, even if it was weaker. "Caught a couple more Pokémon since Teret City."

"Really? More unevolved little runts?"

"Like my Honedge that took out three of your Pokémon?" Finn retorted.

"Psh, I'd like to see your Honedge battle my Probopass." Darrell boasted, pulling a Pokéball out of his pocket.

"I'll battle you after the gym." Finn replied, shrugging. "How'd you do it, anyways?"

Darrell, in his typically idiotic fashion, grinned widely. "They don't punish you for trying multiple times on the maze."

"Oh, so you brute forced your way through." Finn remarked, internally thinking that Darrell would have an easy time on the perseverance gym. "Guess that works. In any case, see you on the flipside."

With that, Finn dashed into the first room, the easiest one. The legend wasn't even a challenge, being nothing more than the number required for the correct door, and the equation was a simple single digit addition problem. The rooms got progressively more difficult, involving multiplication and division problems, riddles, and similar tricks. Finn easily left each room with minutes to spare, until he came to the final room.

This room completely lacked an exit, apart from the door behind him. Said door slammed shut almost immediately upon his entry, leaving him locked in the room. It was barely lighted, having a single light shining down on him. The floor was a grate, with what seemed like nothing beneath it.

Spotlights began to light the room, detailing a trail that started at the door and crept up the wall, ending on a doorway set high up on the wall. A small grate platform was just outside the door, barely large enough for someone to stand. Yet it was obvious that someone was supposed to stand there, judging by the showy lights.

"Wait! I just finished with another challenger!" A voice called down from the doorway. A moment later, a woman pushed the door open and stood on the platform. "Alright, good to go. What's up?"

"Umm…" Finn looked up at the woman on the platform and raised an eyebrow. She was young, probably in her early twenties, and she had a Kalos flight suit on. "What?"

"Oh, right." She took a smartphone out of her pocket and looked at it. "Let's see. One badge. Three Pokémon. Name, Finnegan Ferris. Wait, what?" She looked down at Finn. "Ferris, huh? Your family has quite a reputation."

"I, uh, still don't understand what's going on." Finn replied.

"You made it through the maze, and now you get to battle me." The woman clarified, grabbing a Pokéball. "Welcome to the Canyen City gym, home of the largest and most versatile wind tunnel in the world. I'm Heather, and today, you're battling me! Dart, get out there!"

She hurled the Pokéball, releasing a small black and red bird into the massively spacious room. With a jolt, Finn realized that the walls, floor, and ceiling were all grates, and behind those grates were massive fan blades. Heather's Pokémon were probably adapted to fighting in this unique condition, but Nyx probably had an easier time than most flying types.

"Alright Nyx, let's start this off." Finn released the Gliscor into the battlefield.

"Let the battle…" Heather raised her right hand. "BEGIN!"

Nyx launched herself off of the ground, lashing at the little bird with her claws, trying to catch it with a night slash. The Taillow darted out of the way, circling the Gliscor at a fair distance. Dart had a massive disadvantage here, being a physical attacker without anything that could be super effective.

"Dart, start out with double team."

Finn cursed under his breath. That made the fight considerably more difficult, seeing as both of Nyx's best moves had less than perfect accuracy. Then trying to pull the same trick via sand-attack wouldn't work in a room made entirely of metal. Double-teaming against a flying type was also a bad idea, seeing as aerial ace was a distinct possibility.

"Nyx, return. Athena, let's show them what you've got."

Nyx's eyes widened in surprise just before she vanished in the beam of red light. Muttering a quiet apology, Finn sent out his starting Pokémon. She had learned a couple new moves since the last gym battle, and it would probably be more useful than her previous moves.

"Clever move, swapping to a Pokémon with no guard as its ability." Heather commented. "Gotta say, I didn't see that one coming. Okay Dart, use focus energy."

"Athena, swords dance," Finn directed, "Then use aerial ace."

"Hoo, you've really neutered my options here." Heather scratched the back of her head. "Dart, use wing attack."

The far faster bird swept in, striking Athena with the edge of its wings.

"Catch it in your sheath!"

Athena whipped her sash around, driving her sheath directly into the Taillow's path. With a startled squawk, the bird zipped into the primary opening, getting itself stuck into the metal sheath. With a follow-up motion, Athena sliced down on the ensnared Pokémon, taking it out in a single quick blow.

"Dart, return." Heather raised the Pokéball, returning her downed Pokémon. "That was a clever move there, with the sheath. Wasn't expecting anything like that. Well then Wasp, let's show them what you can do!"

She released a hovering insect, its exoskeleton being a yellow color, with red markings. The Ninjask zipped around the battlefield, scanning over Athena with its red orbs.

"Wasp, swords dance, and stay well away from the Honedge."

The familiar quartet of ghost swords appeared around the Ninjask, vanishing into its claws and giving them a shimmering hue. Without further instruction, the Ninjask repeated its action, circling Athena at a fair distance.

Finn blinked. Was it getting _faster_? But then, that was what Ninjask did, wasn't it? It got faster and faster as the battle continued.

"Athena, shadow sneak!" Finn directed hurriedly

Athena vanished into shadow before reappearing behind the Ninjask, swinging at it with as much haste as she could muster.

"Alright Wasp, use night slash."

Wasp spun around, both claws raised, and blocked Athena's intangible blade, much to the surprise of the ghost type. The Ninjask's claws blurred, then it slashed, shadows trailing behind its triple strength super effective attack.

Athena fell to the ground, unconscious from the brutal strike. Finn took a deep breath and recalled her. "Alright then, it's your turn Nyx."

The Gliscor coalesced from her Pokéball and turned to look at Finn. "Why'd you…?"

"Later, Nyx." Finn muttered in reply.

"So, the battle's been pretty heated so far." Heather remarked. "Let's make it more interesting."

The woman reached behind the doorframe behind her, and the fan in the floor started, causing Nyx to raise into the air against her will. Wasp seemed completely unaffected, most likely using its nigh-invisible wings to maintain its position despite the incredible wind speed.

"Nyx, use ice fang." Finn instructed.

Nyx tilted herself towards Wasp, her jaws opening wide with a faint mist collecting around her fangs. The Ninjask maintained its distance, then began to replicate. It was vibrating at a speed that made it blur, and it was entirely obvious that it was using double team to try and prevent Nyx from hitting it.

"Another night slash, Wasp."

The Ninjask phantoms launched themselves at Nyx, each one raising its claws to strike with a light-absorbing energy. Just as they were about to hit, the wind changed, pushing all of the clones off course and forcing Nyx to land. She carefully balanced on her tail, warily eying all of the vibrating insects. It was nearly impossible to try and tell them apart, especially since the Ninjask had been going so fast beforehand. It was probably even faster now.

Again, the Ninjasks hurled themselves at Nyx, raising their claws in preparation. As soon as they got within range, the Gliscor snapped out, catching the Ninjask between her jaws and crunching down. Ice collected on the smaller creature's body, but didn't stop it from slicing Nyx's face and taking her down for the count.

"Nyx, return." Finn raised the Pokéball and recalled the ground/flying type. "Okay Jitters, it's your time to shine!"

The Joltik appeared, clinging to the grate floor carefully. It would be more than easy for one of his legs to slip between the metal bars and trap him for a swift demise.

"So, we're each down to our last Pokémon." Heather noted. "I'll be honest, I never expected your Gliscor to manage the wind as well as it did, or to even land a hit. Well done."

"She did all the work." Finn replied. "Jitters, use thunder wave."

That got Heather's attention, and she quickly directed Wasp to dodge. It was to no avail, however. Even though there were maybe seven versions of the Ninjask, Jitters picked out and paralyzed the real one.

"Now finish it off with an electroweb!"

Jitters spat a string of electrified silk at the Ninjask, the design causing it to expand outwards into a spider web design as it flew ever father from the tiny Joltik. The wind changed again, causing the attack to miss entirely and nearly knocking Jitters off his precarious perch.

Finn clicked his tongue. It would only take a single hit for Wasp to knock Jitters out, and that would not only cause a loss, but injure the nervous bug type's self-confidence.

Then he had an idea that would surely only work in a story.

But in this scenario…

"Alright Jitters, I want you to use pin missile into the wind!" Finn directed.

Jitters gave him a sideways glance, but evidently trusted him enough to follow through. His spiky yellow fuzz puffed up, then thousands of tiny needles shot out towards the fan that was outputting the wind. The veritable cloud of needles may not have been powerful, but the fact that there were so many, combined with the dispersion caused by the wind, made the needles hit every single Ninjask flying in the air. One by one, the copies puffed out of existence, and the real Wasp was peppered by pin missiles.

After a solid second of sustained damage from the needles, Wasp collapsed to the ground, and Heather hurriedly shut down the fans, leaving only the one in the floor on.

The woman took a couple steps back into the doorway, then leaped, using the flight suit to glide down to the floor. "I must say, that was incredibly clever. The whole point of the gym is fast thinking, but you may have taken it to another level with those tricks."

"Thanks." Finn reached down to Jitters who, after a couple seconds, climbed onto his arm and took a rest on his head. "I'm just glad Jitters listened to me."

"Is he disobedient?" Heather asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh no, it's just that I haven't had him for long, and he's quite nervous most of the time." Finn reached up and scratched the Joltik just behind the head. "I mean, if you caught a new Pokémon, you don't expect them to follow every crazy scheme you come up with, do you?"

"Heh, I suppose not." Heather reached into her pocket and pulled out her smartphone again, pressing an app, then putting her phone back again. A staircase of metal slabs pulled out of the back wall, leading up to the platform Heather had battled from. The woman recalled Wasp and led him up the stairs into the back room. "Alright, you already have one badge, you know the drill. Hand over your 'dex, heal up your Pokémon, and I'll get the badge back to you in a moment."

Finn handed over his Pokédex and put Athena and Nyx into the healing machine. Jitters was in perfect condition still, having taken out Wasp before taking damage at all. He took Jitters off of his head and looked the bug in the eye. "You did good out there buddy. Thanks."

Jitters chittered happily and crawled back up Finn's arm to his head, nuzzling into the human's hair. After a while, Finn could hear and feel Jitters breathing evenly, meaning that the little guy had fallen asleep.

"Alright, here you go." Heather said, coming back with Finn's Pokédex and a disc. "The TM is acrobatics. It's an OK move on its own, but if your Pokémon isn't holding an item, it can pack a huge punch."

Finn took the Pokédex and TM, slipping the disc into his bag and the device into his pocket.

"And this…" Heather reached into her pocket and pulled out a small metal object. "Is the wit badge."

The badge was a red arrow, jagged like it changed directions randomly, with the end splitting off to two heads to show divergent thought. Finn grabbed his badge case with his right hand and popped it open, then put his newest badge in the metal case and snapped it shut. "Thanks."

"No, thank you." Heather laughed. "It's always amazing if someone comes up with something new. This gym is all about changing tactics and doing something unorthodox. Sure, Ada has her theme of using the environment to her advantage, but using a move in a new way falls under the domain of quick thinking, I'm sure. Using a Honedge sheath in battle? That's gold. A literal cloud of pin missiles? By Arceus, you're a genius."

"It just seemed like the thing that would work. Most Pokémon have large pin missiles that are easy to dodge and that fire individually. Since Joltik has a swarm of tiny needles, the wind made it easy to shotgun them," Finn explained. "From there, the ice fang hit beforehand meant that a pin missile would take your Ninjask out."

"I wish every challenger was as clever as you." Heather sighed. "I get too many rock and electric types in here, and they just use the same move every turn. That was a good battle Finn. See you soon."

Finn turned to leave. "See you."

As Finn made his way out, he felt proud of himself. He didn't rely upon super effective moves or gimmicks, but on ingenuity and tactics. He had been set up against a bizarre situation, yet had managed to conquer it.

"Hey Cripple, you done yet?"

And then there was Darrell. Finn knew that the bully probably had a plan set up to counter Athena, but he couldn't possibly know what other Pokémon Finn had. "Yes, Darrell. I managed to win the wit badge."

Darrel's eyes widened in shock for a moment, then his cocky expression returned. "Psh, the flying types in there are so fragile. No real surprise there."

"Oh, so the Ninjask didn't dodge everything you launched, and you didn't resort to moves that cannot miss." Finn shrugged. "I guess I underestimated you."

Again, Darrell's eyes widened, proving Finn's guess correct. He truly hadn't used any strategy or improvisation in that battle, simply having his Pokémon use the same moves over and over again. "Y-yeah. Obviously. Now let's battle."

"Sure. The Pokémon center has an arena." Finn started off to the center. "I think a couple have sand or dirt floors too, so you can try a ground type again."

After locating an arena, the two entered the battle boxes. Darrell grinned cruelly. "So, how many 'mons you got?"

Finn raised an eyebrow. "Three. Why?"

"Well then punk, let's see how you fare against a full team of six. Time for you to get good! Obliterate this kid Trapinch!" Darrel growled, throwing a Pokéball. The large headed creature coalesced from an orb of light. It snapped its jaws a couple times and set its feet.

"Nyx, let's go." Finn threw his Pokéball, releasing Nyx onto the sandy ground.

"You- How?!" Darrel sputtered, dumbfounded.

"Ice fang, quickly!" Finn directed.

Nyx lunged forwards, clamping her jaws shut on the Trapinch. Ice collected all about the point of impact, freezing the ground type's joints solid.

"How?!" Darrell repeated, still in shock. "How did you get a goddamn Gliscor?!"

"Send out your next Pokémon Darrell." Finn said flatly.

"Fine. Let's see how you handle this!" Darrel threw another Pokéball, releasing a small cone-shaped figure. "Snorunt, use ice shard!"

"Nyx, fire fang." Finn knew that the ice shard would hurt, but with luck it wouldn't be enough to take Nyx out in a single hit.

Sure enough, it wasn't quite enough. The Snorunt created three shards of ice and launched them well before Nyx could react, but the Gliscor took all three hits without falling unconscious. Fire spurted from between her fangs, and Nyx clamped her jaws down on the ice type. The hit was more than enough to knock the Snorunt out immediately.

"How." Darrell recalled his Snorunt. "Did." He grabbed another Pokéball. "You." He raised the Pokéball, his fist clenched tightly on it. "GET A GLISCOR?!"

Out of the Pokéball burst a white haired plant creature. One of its hands was nothing more than a bouquet of blue flowers, while the other was red flowers. Its face seemed to have some sort of mask, framing the red eyes.

Darrell's Budew had evolved into a Roserade.

Finn drew his breath in sharply. That could very easily prove to be problematic. This Roserade was probably strong enough to take Nyx out the rest of the way, and it could definitely cause a problem for his other Pokémon.

"How do you like that, huh?" Darrell crowed. "Christine here evolved in the mountains, right next to a huge deposit of shiny stones. Now she's a full blown Roserade, and there's nothing you can do about it."

After a moment of thought, Finn nodded. "Good for you man. You must really care about her if she evolved. Nyx, return."

"Why, Finn?" Nyx asked, turning to look at him.

"I need you for later. For now, return." Finn said softly, quiet enough that Darrell and his Roserade couldn't hear.

Nyx sighed and bowed her head. Finn raised the Pokéball and recalled her, then reached up and tapped Jitters, who was still nesting in his hair. "Time to wake up Jitters. I need your help."

Jitters crawled onto Finn's hand and stood there. Finn lowered his hand to the ground, letting the Joltik off. "Okay, here's my next Pokémon."

Darrell burst out laughing. "And what's that? A tiny little bug? How's that supposed to do anything?"

Finn shrugged. "You never know. Jitters, use pin missile."

The Joltik shook himself, causing tiny needles to fly out of his fuzz. Then, with a directed glare, all of the needles launched at Christine. The Roserade began to dance across the battlefield, using timed movements to attempt to avoid the missiles, but it was to no avail. Regardless of where she went, there were missiles there, evidence of Jitters' superlative accuracy.

Before long, Christine was unconscious due to the sheer number of needles. It didn't matter what she did, there were always more needles than she could dodge, and they were always spot on. Darrell grimaced and recalled the Roserade, sending out his Probopass without a word.

One thunder wave and a couple of electrowebs later, and the Probopass was looking quite notably worse for wear. It was far slower than Jitters, especially now that it was paralyzed. Darrell must have caught it really recently too, as it disobeyed him and didn't use its body to its full potential. Probopass weighed a huge amount, meaning that it could easily squish Jitters if Darrell even told it to tackle the bug type. Then there was the fact that the orbiting mini-noses didn't move at all, beyond just bouncing up and down when it moved. Darrell didn't even have it use moves such as shock wave or magnet bomb, likely trying to prove that he didn't need them to win against Finn. That jab earlier must've really wounded his pride.

With a scowl on his face, Darrell recalled his Probopass. "Meditite then!"

Again, another Pokémon appeared on the battlefield. This one was a humanoid creature, with blue skin and a white, onion-shaped head. Its eyes stared unblinkingly at Jitters as it stood up from its cross-legged position.

"Jitters, return. Athena, you got this one." Finn recalled Jitters to his Pokéball, muttering a quiet apology for not putting him back in his spot atop his head. Athena coalesced out of the Pokéball, blade at the ready.

Immediately, Darrell had his Meditite use foresight into force palm, forcing Athena to keep her distance as much as possible. After a swords dance, however, Finn just had her use shadow sneak. It was enough to take the Meditite out in a single hit.

"I. Hate. You." Darrell snarled, stopping after every word for emphasis as he sent out his last Pokemon. "Vulcan, I'm counting on you."

Out of the Pokéball appeared Darrell's Magby. It hadn't had a name before, but apparently Darrell had seen fit to give it one. "Athena, use shadow sneak, as many times as you can."

As Finn instructed, Athena simply teleported around the arena, doing her best to teleport behind the Magby to strike its back. As soon as Darrell told his Pokémon to use flame burst, however, it was over. Athena couldn't handle the fire attacks well enough, and she had low tolerance to energy attacks.

In order to close the fight out, Finn sent Nyx back in. This was, after all, what he had saved her for. With a single acrobatics, Darrell's Magby was knocked unconscious, and Finn won the battle.

"Vulcan, return." Darrell recalled his Pokémon, seething rage hidden just under the surface. "I'll make you pay for that, Finnegan."

"Darrell, you're the one who challenged me." Finn protested, walking onto the battlefield to meet Nyx.

"You cheated. You have to have cheated. There's no way three Pokemon can beat six, it's impossible." Darrell insisted angrily.

"Darrell, you might take your own advice." Finn suggested with a sigh.

"What?" Darrell asked, confused.

Finn shrugged. "Get good."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm not dead.**

 **Anyways, I'm so sorry I haven't posted this sooner. Writer's block is hell, and most of my free time is taken up by other things.**

 **Special thanks to Dusktrail for his feedback and criticisms. Go read his story The Winds of Time.**

 **On to name origins!**

 **Canyen City is (obviously) because it's set on a canyon. Duh.**

 **Heather sounds like feather.**

 **Vulcan is the roman god of volcanoes.**

 **Christine is the name of the Roserade because Roserade is based off of masquerade, and the first thing that comes to mind when I hear that word is Phantom of the Opera.**

 **Darrell doesn't care enough about his other Pokémon to give them names.**

 **Now for a random fun fact: When tarantulas are frightened, they shake their hairs off in order to irritate their predators' eyes and noses. Hence why I had Jitters' pin missile work as it did. The more you know.**


	15. Vernac Town

At what point does one become what they hate most?

Most people don't even realize it when their goals and personality become corrupted. They war against their foes restlessly, using everything at their disposal to take their enemies down. Regardless of the intentions they start out with, most people will lower their scruples in order to get the upper hand. What they fail to realize is that doing this can make them as bad as, or possibly worse than, their adversary. Truly, trying too hard to defeat evil can make you a horrible person.

Hence the common saying:

You either die a hero,

Or live long enough to become the villain.

* * *

Finn was happy.

It was probably not necessary for that fact to be stated, but he was quite happy with what had happened in the past couple days. He had earned his second gym badge on his first attempt, using some extremely unorthodox tactics to do so. Right after, he had shut Darrell up, turning the bully's own words against him.

"What's on your mind?" Athena asked, floating up next to him.

"Not much. Just happy that things have worked out recently." Finn replied, reaching up to make sure that Jitters was still on his head. "Who knows what'll happen next? Things have really started to go right."

"Don't get too comfortable Finn, things could go south very quickly." Athena cautioned.

"How? I'm positive we won't lose any Pokémon battles, if we need to we can run. Darrell's not going to try to mess with me for a while. Then we're on our way to Vernac Town, home of the ground type gym with a theme of persistence." Finn turned to look at Athena. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"Well, if you don't look where you're going, we can have a recurrence of when you found Nyx." Athena answered dryly.

"And was that a bad thing?" Finn raised an eyebrow.

"In that case it wasn't, but you nearly died." Athena grabbed his shoulder with her sash, gently turning him forwards again. "I'd rather not have a repeat."

"You worry too much." Finn dismissed her worries with the wave of his hand. "There's nothing that could possibly happen."

As if karma was listening, Finn's vision darkened suddenly. He knew for a fact that it wasn't normal, as it was accompanied by a crippling headache and a feeling of fatigue. Just a moment ago, there hadn't been any problem at all. In fact, he had been feeling great. Now, he was reeling over against a rock and trying to stop his head from spinning.

"Finn! Did you take your medicine?!" Athena's voice sounded like it came through wads of cotton, barely being understandable to Finn.

He shook his head, realizing that this was probably what he deserved for being so cocky. He had foregone his medicine that morning because he had never liked taking it.

"Dammit! Nyx! Nyx! Get down here!"

Had Athena just sweared? Was sweared even a word? Why was the world spinning so much, and who had stuffed cotton in his brain? The world was rapidly getting darker, and Finn was finding it increasingly difficult to keep himself from flat out falling over. Whoever was hitting him with a hammer was hitting him harder too, as the pounding headache was getting worse.

The last thing he saw was a large shape descending, and a prehensile limb wrapped itself around his waist.

Then the world plunged itself into darkness.

* * *

Darkness.

Everyone is truly unnerved by being in pitch darkness. Regardless of who you may be, the darkness isn't something you are comfortable with. It's something to do with being human. Darkness represents the unknown, the unforeseen, that which all men truly fear.

Perhaps that is why they also fear death. Death represents a horizon they cannot see past, one which could lead into anything.

 _What do you fear?_

"Letting my friends down," Finn answered, "And becoming a worse person than the bullies who have plagued my life."

 _An honorable fear, and one that is close to fruition._

The darkness began to fade, fleeing like shadows before a light, and Harvest was revealed. The bug type had evolved, but it was clearly the same Pokémon. He was in a cage, with a large radial dish above him. Arcs of electricity shot from the center of the dish, zapping Harvest repeatedly and causing him to cry out in pain.

Then the scene changed, showing Finn being cocky on the trail to Vernac Town. He realized that he had been being almost as bad as Darrell with his attitude. Worse, even, because while Darrell was uninventively and somewhat casually unkind, Finn was deliberate and intelligent.

"What are you?" Finn asked fearfully.

 _I am the voice in the darkness that tells you to worry. The source of caution and worry. I am fear. You know me by another name._

The shadows that had fled returned, gathering in the middle of an otherwise blank room. The shadows gathered together in a tight clump, the center raising up into a vaguely human-like torso, the bottom still forming a wide skirt that looked like the bottom fringe of a ragged robe. The top of the shadow structure rose in a ridged ring, then turned a crimson color. Right in the center of the tooth-like ring was a white orb. A white tendril flowed out behind the top of the shadowy figure, and the orb rose, revealing a single blue eye. "Who am I?"

Finn took a deep breath, finally connecting all of the dots.

"Darkrai."

* * *

 _Beep… Beep… Beep…_

Finn opened his eyes and looked around. Everything was blurry, out of focus. Something off to the side was beeping, and there were clean sheets covering him. His head was so fuzzy that he couldn't focus on anything but the feeling that he was floating above the bed. Something was stuck to his arm, but it wasn't anything noticeable.

But his right arm was _burning_.

Not burning like a rash, but burning like fire. But there wasn't any heat, it was just the feeling of fire slowly eating through his skin. Not his whole right arm, just a winding trail along his forearm, widest closer to his elbow and thinner as it neared his wrist. The sensation began to fade, starting at his wrist and then finally ending after the whole trail went through the sensation. It was like something had traveled along his arm, then left. The sudden feeling of his head clearing backed up this assumption.

 _Beep… Beep… Beep…_

Finn blinked a couple times, clearing his eyes and letting him get a better view of the room. Now that his arm wasn't burning, the only real problem was the fact that his head was fuzzy and he was unnecessarily tired. After scanning the room a bit, he finally located what was beeping: a machine that was set right next to his bed. Right next to it was an IV drip, the tube connecting all the way to his arm.

This was a hospital room.

Finn knew what these looked like all too well. He had seen the inside far more times than any human being should have to, and he was always the one on the bed.

With a grunt, Finn pushed the covers off and swung his legs off the edge of the bed, sitting upright. His stuff was nowhere to be seen, probably in the possession of the hospital right now. How had he wound up in a hospital anyways? Last he remembered…

Athena. Athena and Nyx had been right there when he collapsed, and Jitters had been on his head. Where were they? What had the people who ran the hospital done with his Pokémon?

The door opened and a Nurse Joy entered the room. She was looking down at her clipboard, but glanced up at him. After a moment, she made a double-take, looking at him in surprise. "You're…?"

"Awake?" Finn raised an eyebrow. "Was I not supposed to be?"

"Y- The doctor said…" Nurse Joy shook her head. "I- I'll be back."

Nurse Joy rushed out of the room, closing the door behind her. Finn stared at the closed door for a few moments, then shrugged. This wasn't the first time he had freaked out a nurse, then completely confounded the doctor when they were called in to examine him. Finn sighed and pulled the IV drip out of his arm, removing several other sensors and wires while he was at it.

After a while, the door opened again, and a tall lanky man with curly black hair walked in. Like Nurse Joy before him, he was also carrying a clipboard. Upon seeing Finn, he raised an eyebrow curiously. "Well, I see you're up and about."

The man looked extremely familiar. Finn racked his brain for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "You're Professor Sycamore, aren't you? The Kalosian expert on mega evolution."

"That's correct." Sycamore nodded, a smile growing on his face. "And you're Finnegan Ferris, Aspen has told me about your condition."

"Then in that case, my waking up shouldn't come as a surprise, right?" Finn asked.

"It's one thing to hear about it…" Sycamore shook his head and turned his clipboard around, showing it to Finn. "Quite another to actually witness someone go fully comatose and then recover in the span of a week."

"I went fully brain dead this time?" Finn stood up, stretching. "New record, I guess."

"The interesting part is that you recovered of your own accord." Sycamore shrugged. "Using medicines have a chance to inflame your condition, with the exception of a particularly powerful drug which, I am told, you take daily. By all accounts you should still be comatose."

"It happens." Finn brushed the incident off. "What exactly brings the famous Kalosian Pokémon expert to Toreta, and why is he here taking care of me?"

"While I am an expert on Pokémon, and indeed that is my passion, I'm still a doctor." Sycamore explained. "I'm here in Toreta, and Vernac Town specifically, to examine the stones excavated from History Cave for potential mega stones. There's currently a snag in the mining operations, so I'm at the Pokémon center to help out with the injured and sick."

"What kind of snag, exactly?" Finn queried.

"A rogue Pokémon. We'll probably be able to take care of it." The Professor shrugged again. "But now that you've recovered, I have some slightly upsetting news for you."

Finn raised an eyebrow questioningly, causing Professor Sycamore to sigh. "We've contacted your mother, and she's on her way here now."

Finn flopped backwards onto the bed behind him. "What happened to the Trainer/Parent Noninterference Act?"

"Finnegan, you've been comatose for a week. Seeing as the Trainer/Parent Noninterference Act only keeps parents off their kids' backs for a total of one week, and that's when they're not experiencing potentially life-threatening problems." Sycamore pinched the bridge of his nose. "I understand you have special dispensation for your condition-"

"She'll take me home. You do realize that, right?" Finn sighed heavily. "I have maybe three days, if you contacted her today, but she's super overprotective. After Darrell burned my hand, she wouldn't let me leave the house without my Riolu nearby. Sure, she'll let me take my Pokémon back, but what's the point of having battling Pokémon that never get to battle?"

"I'm sorry Finn, but rules are rules." Sycamore shook his head once more. "If you're quick, you should be able to battle the gym and get out of town before she gets here. I do have to warn you though the gym leader is a bit… underhanded."

"Can't be too difficult." Finn pulled himself back upright. "Where's my stuff, and my Pokémon?"

"Ah, your stuff is right here." Sycamore walked over to a trunk at the foot of the bed and opened it, pulling out Finn's bag. "As for your Pokémon, Athena and Nyx are roaming the city, while Jitters is…" Sycamore looked back in the trunk, then at Finn's bag. After a moment he located the fuzzy yellow critter, separating him from the bag. "Right here. Little guy keeps sneaking back in."

"How do you know their names?" Finn asked, walking over and taking Jitters from the Professor.

"We've got a good amount of translators scattered about. Personally, I don't have one, but the Nurse Joys always have some on hand." Sycamore replied, walking to the door. "You've got some loyal Pokémon there. Athena explained how you met each of them, in addition to explaining your little scar. You wouldn't believe how clingy she was when your Gliscor brought you. She wouldn't leave your side. Jitters was even more protective, he spat webs and lightning bolts at everyone who came close."

"Is that right, Jitters?" Finn raised the Joltik to eye level. Jitters just chittered in response, nuzzling Finn's face. "If you talked to them, you probably know about my bond with them."

"The communication aspect? Yes." Sycamore smiled at Finn. "That's quite a unique connection you have. It's unprecedented, although there is a similar case. I'll leave you to get yourself ready, and make sure that your other two Pokémon are here."

The Professor closed the door behind him with a _click_ , leaving Finn and Jitters in the room. Finn set the Joltik down on the hospital bed and rummaged through his bag, locating and donning his usual cargo shorts and t-shirt.

With his bag slung over his shoulder and Jitters perched in his hair, Finn walked out of the hospital room. After entering the lobby and receiving an odd look from Nurse Joy, he exited the Pokémon center.

"Finn!"

A large shadow collided with him, causing him to stumble a bit as Nyx wrapped her arms around him. The scorpion may have weighed less than he did, but she was still quite heavy. Not to mention the fact that, tail not included, she was almost as tall as him, he was barely able to keep himself from falling over. That went out the window when a levitating sword slammed into him at full speed.

Human and Pokémon collapsed to the ground in a heap, Finn finding himself flat on his back as Athena and Nyx invaded his personal space. "All right, all right, I'm fine. You can get off now,"

"Finn I swear to Arceus if you scare me like that again…" Athena mumbled, wrapping her sash around the back of Finn's neck and pulling him up into a sitting position. Despite her harsh words, there was a tone to her voice that Finn had only heard once, when she thought she had killed him.

"I'm fine now. This has happened before." Finn attempted to soothe Athena, locating Jitters on the ground and picking him up.

"Finn. You nearly died." Athena whispered, pushing her sheathed body close to his own. "If we hadn't gotten you here quickly…"

"But you did, and I'm fine." Finn replaced Jitters atop his head and wrapped his arm around Athena, embracing her. "This isn't the first time I've gone through this, and it won't be the last either. I'll pull through each time though, and be stronger for it."

Nyx buried her face in Finn's shoulder, and to his surprise she was crying. "We thought you weren't going to recover."

"There are lots of people who thought I wasn't going to recover." Finn replied, pulling Nyx into the hug. "I've proven them wrong so far."

Finn struggled to his feet, still hugging his Pokémon close. They stood there for a while, none of them moving for fear that the moment would vanish entirely. Unfortunately, it was interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

"Sorry for interrupting. Finnegan, I need to talk to you." Professor Sycamore said, standing at the door to the Pokémon center.

Finn released Athena and Nyx and removed Jitters from his head. After handing the Joltik to Nyx, who started asking where the bug-type had been, he walked over to the Professor.

"Finn, about your condition…" Sycamore hesitated for a moment. "Do your Pokémon know?"

"Only the basics." Finn replied, glancing over at his Pokémon. Athena was watching Nyx and Jitters, the former of whom had the latter squeezed in a tight hug. "It wouldn't be kind to tell them any more."

"Well, I'll trust your decision on that. Then there's the matter of…" Sycamore hesitated again, then shook his head. "Never mind. It's not your problem. Best of luck with the gym."

"Thanks." Finn nodded and walked back to his Pokémon. "Alright then, who's ready to fight some ground types?"

Unsurprisingly, Nyx was the only one to respond positively, raising her claw. Athena shrank back a bit, while Jitters –who had made a new perch atop Nyx's head- just chittered nervously. Finn shrugged. "It won't hurt to try one battle, would it?"

Oh how wrong that assumption was.

* * *

As Finn entered the gym he walked to the registration counter to the right of the entrance. The place was themed like a dry prairie, quite incongruous with the fact that the town was situated in a massive ravine. As he approached the counter the woman who was running it looked up and blinked tiredly.

"I'd like to register a battle with Trinity, please." Finn requested, pulling his Pokédex out of his pocket and showing his trainer ID.

"How many badges, and how many Pokémon?" The woman asked, her tone as tired as her face.

"Two badges, three Pokémon."

"I'm sorry sir, but only trainers with a full team of six Pokémon and four or more badges may challenge this gym." The receptionist recited, turning back to her computer.

"But the Pokémon league rules state that-" Finn began.

"A gym leader has the right to alter the gym rules in any way he or she sees fit." A voice interrupted.

Finn turned around to see a middle-aged man walking up to the counter. He placed a Pokédex down on the counter, which the receptionist scanned and returned. "Hello Terrance."

Terrance nodded at the receptionist and turned to Finn. "Sorry son, but rules are rules. Come back when you have more Pokémon and badges."

"Oh lighten up Terrance." Another voice called out. A tall, bulky woman walked up, coming from the inside of the gym unlike Terrance. "I'm the gym leader after all, I get to say what goes."

Finn looked between Terrance and the newcomer, a puzzled expression clear on his face. "Umm…?"

"I'm Trinity." The well-muscled woman introduced herself. "This buzzkill is Terrance. It was his idea to up the requirements, but I'm the gym leader."

"Upped the requirements to give the challengers a chance." Terrance muttered under his breath, to quiet for anyone but Finn to hear. He spoke up. "What're you doin' down here, Trin?"

"I heard you jabbering about the rules, and decided to take a look at the potential challenger. You here to battle me, kid?" Trinity grinned and looked at Finn.

"Yes ma'am." Finn answered, nodding. Something told him he didn't want to get on her bad side.

"Right this way then. You can skip the gym challenge this time." Trinity turned on her heel and walked off, heading off to a battle arena. Finn followed, aware of Terrance's grumbling behind him.

As they reached the large arena, Trinity took her position at one side while Finn stood at the other. The floor was made of dust and dry dirt, not a surprise considering that it was the ground type gym. Trinity shouted across the arena. "Alright then Finnegan, I'll use one of my Pokémon, you can use all of yours. Since you have two gym badges, I'll go easy on you."

That was odd. A gym leader _had_ to change their team to accommodate the number of badges the challenger possessed, so why was she so confident. Finn shrugged. "Alright then Nyx, let's go!"

"Whiscash."

The two Pokémon appeared on the battlefield. Nyx on Finn's side, and a large blue fish with massive whiskers and a W on its forehead on Trinity's side. Immediately the battle launched into effect, with the Whiscash conjuring a massive sandstorm by slamming its tail into the ground.

Nyx launched herself into the sandstorm, not worried about the damage that it could do because she was immune. A flash of blue quickly caused her to flee, however, as ice began to form all over the battlefield and snow exploded outwards from within the sandstorm.

Finn clenched his jaw. Sandstorm wasn't too big of a move, provided the user wasn't a Tyranitar or Hippowdon, but blizzard was outlawed for use in gym battles. "Nyx, retaliate with an ice fang."

Nyx jumped high into the air and came down into the sandstorm, vanishing from Finn's view as she descended into the raging sandstorm. Another blue light lit up the inside of the dust cloud, and then snow and ice shot out. Nyx flew out of the sandstorm, ice collected on her joints and freezing her to immobility. Finn quickly recalled her and sent out Athena, giving her the command to use swords dance.

Athena didn't even get to finish the move, as tremors rippled out across the battlefield and caused her levitation to give out. Her blade sank into the ground as more tremors crossed the battlefield, knocking her out. Finn rapidly swapped her for Jitters, hoping deep down that there was something that the Joltik could do.

Earthquake and blizzard, both on a Pokémon capable of conjuring a massive sandstorm. That was certainly illegal, and the Pokémon League had decided that such things wouldn't be allowed against trainers with less than four badges. No wonder Terrance had altered the rules on the gym for that.

Another blizzard fired off, freezing Jitters solid.

Finn sighed and recalled Jitters, shaking his head. That was blatant cheating. This Whiscash must be extremely well trained, likely for years beforehand. Where Neven, Ada's Eevee, could get away with this because it was still just an Eevee, this Whiscash was fully evolved and dangerous. In its own right, a Whiscash was a level four threat, being easily capable of destroying buildings. With both blizzard and sandstorm in its arsenal, this one was easily level five, something a gym leader was only allowed to use one of until their challenger had eight badges.

"Whiscash, return." The sandstorm dispersed as the center of its power returned to its Pokéball. "Gotta say, I expected more from the Ferris kid. I've heard quite a bit about you, but turns out its' all nonsense. I'll waive the team requirement for next time, but don't come back until you have four badges, kid."

Finn turned and left, not as mad as he normally would have been if his opponent had cheated on a league regulated battle.

No, instead he was wondering exactly how Trinity had known his name. The receptionist hadn't taken one look at his Pokédex, he hadn't said his name, and he had never been in Vernac Town before. Something was up.

As he exited the building he nearly bumped into a miner. "Oh, sorry sir."

"It's all right kid, I wasn't looking where I was going." The miner shook his head. "Swear to Arceus if Trinity doesn't help this time the mine'll be closed…"

"What's the problem?" Finn asked, his earlier conundrum forgotten.

"Really strong Pokémon, a Machoke. Thing has been attacking the workers for weeks now, and the only one who might be able to stop it would be Trinity." The miner shook his head again. "We were askin' for it, digging into History Cave, but Trinity should've helped us by now. Terrance helped, but even with his strongest Pokémon the Machoke took him down. The thing's a juggernaut."

"Any way I could help? I'm a Pokémon trainer." Finn suggested.

"I dunno…" The miner scratched the back of his head. "You can give it a shot. It's down in the mines, up that way." The miner pointed up the ravine, to a clear mineshaft entrance. "Just don't get yourself killed kid. That thing is strong."

"Thanks for the warning, sir." Finn nodded.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go see if Trinity'll help now…" The miner turned and walked into the gym.

Finn watched the miner leave. After a moment of consideration, Finn turned and walked into the Pokémon center, placing his Pokéballs on the counter and going to wait in the lobby.

Something that he hadn't thought about all day came back into his mind. The dream he had had while comatose. That was… something. What had happened? His memory wasn't clear. Something had been there. Something that was external, something that wasn't part of his own mind.

"Finn, your Pokémon are ready!" Nurse Joy called out, placing the Pokéballs back on the counter.

"Thanks." Finn said, taking the capsules and leaving the Pokémon center.

Since it was just a wild Pokémon, there were no rules to the encounter. That opened quite a few options to him, such as applying every status condition simultaneously. Nyx could easily poison the Machoke, while Jitters had a guaranteed paralyze.

The mine entrance was simple wooden posts, with a single sign and a barricade blocking the path. The sign held the message 'closed off due to Pokémon attacks'. To one side was a Timburr, standing idly and looking bored.

As soon as he reached the mine entrance, Finn released his Pokémon. "Alright. We've got ourselves a fight. There's a Machoke in there that's been giving everyone in town trouble, and we're going to try and take it out."

"Why doesn't miss gym leader just take it out?" Athena asked. It was quite clear she was upset about losing to Trinity's Whiscash.

"In case you didn't notice, she's not exactly legally abiding." Finn muttered. "Regardless, I have a big question for you. Can you make me immune to normal and fighting type moves?"

Athena pondered for a bit, then bobbed affirmatively. "Actually, I think so. If I can bring you when I shadow sneak, I should be able to make you immune to those moves."

"Alright then, here's the plan…"

Ten minutes later, they located the Machoke.

It wasn't difficult to locate, seeing as it was pummeling a Golem into the ground. The rock type was fighting back as best it could, but it was entirely futile; the Machoke was just brutally powerful. With a final punch, the Machoke sent the Golem tumbling down the tunnel, where it released a burst of explosive energy.

"Jitters, thunder wave!"

Jitters, who was following via the ceiling, released a pulse of electrical energy down onto the Machoke. It wasn't nearly as powerful as something like a thunderbolt, but it was enough to paralyze the hulking creature. Finn examined the wild Pokémon, and to his surprise it was towering. An average Machoke would be shorter than him, but this one was a good foot taller, while also having a slimmer physique than a normal Machoke.

Despite its paralyzed condition, the Machoke was still far faster than Finn would expect. It slammed one fist into the wall, dislodging a large rock, then hurled the rock at the ceiling, forcing Jitters to jump to the ground to evade it.

"Nyx, sand attack." Finn directed, clenching his hand tight on Athena's grip. As Nyx swept her tail through the sandy floor, Athena conjured ghost swords to empower her own edge.

With his vantage on the ceiling compromised, Jitters set to work on the second part of Finn's plan. Electrified webs began to fill the air as the Joltik jumped around, keeping out of reach of the Machoke while simultaneously impeding its movement. The Machoke was quite notably slowed by the crisscross of spider silk, and made special efforts to avoid them.

In the middle of this web was Nyx, who had her claws sunk into the Machoke's shoulders and was stabbing it in the back repeatedly with her tail. The sand attack earlier was causing the bulky humanoid to rub its eyes to try and clear them, meaning that even if it tried to hit either Jitters or Nyx, it would likely miss.

The ghost swords surrounding Finn vanished, signaling the next phase of the attack. "Alright Athena, let's do this."

The world vanished into nothingness, the telltale sign of going through a shadow sneak. As soon as Finn and Athena re-emerged, they directed a slash at the Machoke's midriff. Instead of slashing the creature's skin, Athena's blade phased straight through the Machoke, the second half of shadow sneak. Finn quickly reversed the slash and hit the Machoke again, this time with aerial ace.

That's when the battle changed.

Sensing that it was in true danger this time, the Machoke cried out in frustration and rage. With eyes closed, it reached back and grabbed Nyx's arms, ripping the scorpion's claws out of its shoulders, and swung her over its shoulders, trying to smack Finn. Athena immediately shadow sneaked the two of them out of range, causing Nyx to slam into the ground. The Machoke was unperturbed, as it followed up with an ice punch, knocking Nyx out and freezing her joints solid.

Finn realized that he wouldn't be able to defeat this monster of a creature. Wild Machoke and Machamp always proved problematic, as they lacked the power-save belt that was league required. Without the belt, one of the Superpower Pokémon invariably went on rampages, their power too great for their less sophisticated brains to handle.

Yet here was this Machoke, fighting better than most trainer-owned Machamp, strategy still obviously in play. Nyx's acrobatics and Athena's aerial ace weren't anywhere close enough to taking it down. Finn stood no chance.

 _"Ratherian, what does one do against an opponent that has the upper hand in physical combat?" Master asked, having defeated him for the third time in an hour._

 _"Become stronger?" He asked, knowing immediately that it was the wrong answer._

 _"What if the opponent is far and above beyond what you can do? What happens if you have a limited time frame as well? What then, Ratherian?" Master calmly replied._

 _"You… lose. I guess." He wavered, knowing that there was some trick that Master was about to tell him. "In a duel of honor-"_

 _"When did I say it was a duel of honor?" Master chuckled._

 _"I don't understand…" He scratched his head._

 _"It's quite simple." Master tapped his temple. "You find another way to fight."_

Finn blinked. "Change of plans. Nyx, return! Jitters, I want you to screech, as loud as you possibly can."

Jitters responded instantly, emitting a loud chirruping sound that caused the Machoke to cover its ears and stumble blindly from side to side. It brushed one of the electrowebs and roared in anger and pain, and opened its eyes. They were still reddened by the sand attack, but they fixed immediately on Finn. It was clear that this Machoke knew all about Pokémon trainers.

Finn reached into his pocket. He had moved all of his Pokéballs to his left pocket when he had come in here with a plan. The bag would just slow him down, after all. He held up a Pokéball, one of the three he had. "Know what this is?"

The Machoke roared at him in response, and body tackled through the electrical webbing. Each one slowed the massive creature by a small margin, but wasn't enough to stop its rage-fueled attack. Its muscles periodically twitched due to paralysis, and there was no doubt enough poison pumping through its bloodstream to kill a small town, but it just powered through.

Finn realized that he had made a crucial miscalculation. Some Pokémon became even stronger when under the effects of poison, paralysis, and burns. Machoke happened to be one of them. "Jitters, gastro acid!"

With reflexes only available to an electric type, Jitters leapt up onto the Machoke's back. Finn didn't get to see exactly what happened, but one moment the Machoke was full strength, the next it was slowing down noticeably.

Enraged even further, the Machoke changed course, skidding to a halt and slamming its back against the wall of the tunnel. The impact was so sudden that neither Jitters nor Finn were able to react, and Jitters fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Jitters, return!" Finn snatched Jitters' Pokéball and recalled the Joltik, placing the ball on his belt.

"Just you, me, and my Honedge now." Finn muttered, grabbing an empty Pokéball and hurling it sidearm at the Machoke. Its eyes widened as the ball collided with its forehead, and the hulking creature vanished into the metal object.

Before the ball could even rock once, it exploded violently. The Machoke appeared once more and grabbed a rock off the ground, intercepting Finn's next Pokeball before it got halfway to the fighting type. There was an audible crack, and two hemispheres dropped to the ground.

Finn gritted his teeth. "Alright Athena, this is-"

Athena interrupted him by vanishing from his grip and reappearing behind the Machoke. She wrapped her sash around its neck and held it like that, forcing the Machoke to snatch at her blue sash in order to prevent itself from choking. With her sash in place, Athena raised her blade high into the air, slashing down into the Machoke's face.

Just seconds before Athena landed the hit, the Machoke's eyes flashed white. It reached up and caught her blade between the palms of its hands. With a twist of its arms, it launched Athena into the tunnel wall, then followed up with a heavy punch straight into the flat of her blade.

As soon as the punch hit, Athena's sash fell limp. The Machoke straightened and glared at Finn, its wounds closing. This Machoke knew drain punch, a feat that was supposedly impossible.

Finn hurled another Pokéball at the Machoke, only for the hulking creature to punch it out of the air. The red and white ball cracked in two, the top and bottom hitting the ground. The humanoid creature grinned victoriously and approached Finn. It brushed the electrified webbing out of its way without a second thought, and drew back its fist for a rock crushing blow.

In his frantic effort to scramble out of the way, Finn grabbed the last thing in his pocket and tossed it at the Machoke.

With a blinding flash of light, the Machoke vanished. The light was absorbed into the object Finn had thrown, and the item fell to the ground. It rocked once, twice, three times, then clicked in confirmation of capture.

Finn blinked. He had no more Pokéballs, right? He had only been given six. One he had used on Harvest, one for Nyx, a third for Jitters, and then the three he had tried here. How then, had he just caught the Machoke?

He scrambled over the sandy floor to the spherical object on the ground. It turned out he had been given seven Pokéballs, although this was one he had been planning to save.

The Machoke had been captured in the master ball Colress had given him.

"How's that for luck…?" Finn wheezed, grabbing the Pokéball and putting it on his belt. He felt safer with the Machoke in a master ball than he did with it in a normal Pokéball. A normal Pokéball just allowed the trainer to give suggestions, a master ball prevents disobedience entirely.

With the master ball in one hand and Athena's Pokéball in the other, Finn recalled the Honedge. He placed her Pokéball on his belt and stumbled towards the mine entrance.

"You said you heard an explosion here?"

"Yeah. Like a Golem or somethin'."

"Think it was that Machoke?"

"Hope not."

"Hey, there's someone over there!"

A trio of miners entered the mine, all of them shining their flashlights in. Finn waved to get their attention and held up the master ball. "The Machoke's not a problem anymore, but there might be a lot of spider webs all over the mine."

"You-" One of the miners started, looking at the master ball. "Well I'll be darned… you did take that monster down. We owe you a debt, kid."

"Just tell me the way to Geistom Town."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Long chapter this time, it's kind of all over the place.**

 **No name origins this time, we'll be back in Vernac eventually. Can't have a cheating gym leader and not bring them to justice.**

 **Place your bets now, is Darkrai a good guy or a bad guy this time?**


	16. Bellona

What is it that causes intelligent people to revert to rage and fear?

One could, quite honestly, answer with a single word. Instincts. The genetic behavior passed down from generation to generation in order for the offspring to survive and procreate. It's evident in every living thing. Birds fly instinctively, fish swim instinctively, and human beings instinctively react violently. It's simply a fact of life.

But that doesn't answer the question properly. Rather, the question is wrong.

What causes these instincts to overwhelm even the most intellectual of people?

It doesn't matter how much logic one is known to have, it doesn't matter how calm they usually are, it doesn't even matter who they are. There's always something that drives even the sanest man to violence.

Like the previous question, this can be answered with one word too.

Trauma.

* * *

This was quite the conundrum.

Finn knew he had options, almost more than he could count, but he wasn't sure which one he should be taking. He glanced down at the master ball in his left hand, then at the belt in his right, and sighed.

Before he had left Vernac town, Finn had made sure to buy a power-save belt. Regardless of what he chose to do, he needed to put the belt on the Machoke. It was illegal to own a Machoke or Machamp without a power-save belt, as they quickly went insane if they battled without one. Any released Machoke or Machamp also had to wear a belt, as they were known to get into fights with other wild Pokémon.

Which lead to Finn's current problem. He had, as far as he could see, three options.

Option one: release the Machoke elsewhere. This would invariably lead to the Machoke causing problems elsewhere. Finn had seen the malicious look in the creature's eyes, and it was fighting out of anger rather than the normal desire to grow stronger.

Option two: send the Machoke to Professor Aspen. Aspen's lab had a huge enclosure out back, serving as a home to many trainer-owned Pokémon. It was traditional to, once you obtained more than six Pokémon, send the excess to the professor who sponsored your start. Many trainers sent back rare or elusive Pokémon allowing the professors to research these hard to find creatures. The problem with this plan was that, while Aspen had herself a strong team of Pokémon, they weren't battlers. Nero and Sera might be strong enough to fight off robbers, but this Machoke was clearly a veteran of many battles.

Which left option three: keep the Machoke.

As one might expect, that was almost as problematic as the other two.

Keyword being almost.

Finn, being the sort to take a burden on himself rather than cause pain for other people, was going to keep the Machoke. It was entirely likely that the Pokémon would never see battle, but he would at least try to rehabilitate it. Having two capable translators would help immensely on that front.

And that was why Finn had both of them out in the forest clearing with him, along with Jitters. The Joltik had grown extremely attached to him, and any chance he got, Jitters perched on his head. Athena had taken a position right next to Finn in case things went south, and Nyx was perched in a tree behind them. True, he had captured the Machoke in a master ball, but he wasn't willing to take any chances.

"Alright, here goes nothing." Finn muttered. He pressed the button on the master ball and released its occupant.

The first thing that happened was that the Machoke launched a punch at his face.

The second thing that happened was the whole world vanishing into shadow.

The third thing to happen, after the shadow sneak ended, was Nyx wrapping her tail around the Machoke's neck in a stranglehold.

"Everyone stop!" Finn shouted.

Nyx and the Machoke both froze, Nyx with her claws raised and about to bring them down in an attack and the Machoke with its hands wrenching at Nyx's tail.

Finn pointed at the Machoke. "You can understand me. I know you can, you reacted when I taunted you back in the mine. I'm warning you right now that if you fail to behave you will be going back into the Pokéball until we can calmly interact."

The Machoke slowly released Nyx's tail and let its hands drop to its sides. Nyx unwound her tail from around the musclebound creature's neck and glided backwards, finding herself an upside down perch on a tree.

"Alright then. I'm going to put this belt on you." Finn raised the power-save belt. "If you don't let me do that, I may be forced to turn you in to the authorities. They have a tendency to put down any Pokémon that have been known to cause major issues."

After waiting a moment to see the Machoke's reaction, Finn slowly approached, holding the belt in front of him. Now that it wasn't trying to kill him, he could get a better look at the hulking creature. Like all Machamp, it looked like it was wearing a loincloth or shorts of some sort, although that was just natural markings. It was also a solid foot or so taller than most Machoke, and had a more defined midriff. Its muscles, while proven to be incredibly strong, bulged less than other Machoke, giving it a slimmer look.

Finn slowly placed the belt around the Machoke's waist, clicking it into place. All the while the Machoke glared at him maliciously. He had no doubt that it would snap his neck right there, if it thought it could get away with it. It probably could right then, with Athena a fair distance and Nyx in the trees, the only thing stopping it would be Jitters, who wouldn't be able to do enough.

Immediately after he put the belt on the Machoke, it began to thrash and try to tear the metal device off. Not a surprise, considering that at that moment the belt was limiting the Pokémon's strength while increasing its endurance.

It occurred to Finn suddenly that he didn't know anything about this Pokémon, apart from its brutal strength. With fumbling fingers, he quickly fished his Pokédex out of his pocket and scanned the hulking creature.

[Machoke]

[Superpower Pokémon]

[Type: Fighting]

[Ability: Guts. This Pokémon becomes stronger out of pain, specifically poison, fire, or paralysis. The ordinary weaknesses caused by burns are nullified by this ability.]

[Gender: Female]

[The extreme amounts of power that a Machoke can generate can be dangerous, even to itself. In order to prevent this incredible strength from overwhelming them, special limiting belts were designed. It is recommended that a trainer catch a Machop and train it to evolution due to this.]

"You're a female?" Finn murmured, surprised.

 _That_ did it. As soon as the words left his mouth, the Machoke smacked him upside the head. Stars danced before his vision for a few moments while the Machoke stalked off, giving him a death glare all the while.

"Gotta say Finn, you kinda deserved that one." Athena commented, floating up next to him. "What prompted you to say that?"

"Honestly thought the Machop family was one of the ones that's only one gender." Finn muttered, tottering over and leaning against a tree. "Y'know, like Nidoking and Nidoqueen. That… that sort of thing."

"Really sounded like you were insulting her." Athena replied.

"You know I didn't mean that." Finn shook his head, trying to shake off the stars. "You and Nyx are my first two Pokémon, and you're proof that gender doesn't impact strength."

"I know you think like that, but she doesn't." The Honedge sighed. "I'll go with you, but you need to apologize."

"Yeaup. Was about to do that. Once I can walk without falling over." Finn stumbled off in the direction the Machoke had gone, Athena trailing close behind him.

The forest was oddly silent, which was probably just a testament to his ability to repel even Pokémon that ignore humans. There wasn't a single Burmy hanging from the trees, and the Kricketot that he had heard on his way to the clearing were silent. It was probably just as well. The Machoke probably would have punched anything that came into her path.

As it was, she had snapped a tree in two.

And then thrown the removed top half fifty feet to the side.

And this was _after_ she had a power-save belt.

Finn carefully skirted the splintered stump and continued on, finding more evidence of the Machoke's rage. A pulverized boulder here, a felled tree there, and a general air of destruction. Up ahead Finn could hear something splashing through water, along with the gurgle of a stream.

He broke through the tree line to see a stream, as expected. It was crystal clear, with Basculin swimming in it and rocks making up the streambed. Standing with her legs up to the knees in the stream was the Machoke, one hand poised above the water. With a quick jab downwards, she snatched a Basculin out of the water and lifted it into the air. She snapped its neck by twisting her fingers, then waded back to shore and took a seat on a boulder. Her right hand caught fire, cooking the fish she held.

Then she snatched a rock off of the ground and hurled at Finn.

Athena reacted before Finn even noticed that the projectile was inbound, her blade flashing through the air as she deflected the stone to the ground.

The Machoke just snorted and returned to cooking her meal. She seemed to be actively ignoring Finn, but that wasn't much of a surprise.

"I didn't mean it like that." Finn apologized. "I wasn't trying to insult you."

The Machoke snorted again and extinguished her fist. She brought the fish up to her face and took a bite out of it.

"What I mean is that you're a great fighter. I don't judge someone based on what they are. If I did, my whole team would be nonexistent."

She continued to ignore him, just carefully picking all of the meat off of the Basculin's bones.

"Look, do you have a name, or something you want me to call you? I don't feel comfortable just referring to you as 'the Machoke'."

That provoked a different reaction. The Machoke tapped her collarbone, drawing Finn's attention. Branded into her skin was what could only be described as a tag. #066.

"Number sixty-six…" Finn muttered, thinking. Every Pokémon had a number in the Pokédex, organizing them by some obscure method that Finn really didn't understand. They were bunched by region, meaning that, for example, one two and three are all from the same evolution line. But what number was sixty-six? Then it hit him. "That's the ID number for a Machop, isn't it?"

To Finn's surprise, she nodded in confirmation.

"You were labelled by 'dex number…" Finn's eyes widened. "So then… you were part of a large group labelled by number?"

Again, she nodded, finishing her Basculin. She quickly dug a hole in the streambed and buried the bones before returning to her seat on the boulder.

Finn was silent for a little bit, then he walked up and sat down on the boulder. "Do you want a different name?"

The Machoke slowly turned her head to look at him and raised an eye ridge.

"Yeah. Legally speaking, you are my Pokémon now, which means I can name you whatever I want. Not," He quickly amended. "That I would do it without your permission."

After a moment of silence, the Machoke nodded.

"Alright then, let's get into some names." Finn rubbed his hands together. "How about Amazon, in honor of the warrior woman from eastern cultures?"

The Machoke considered for a moment, then shook her head negatively.

"How about…" Finn paused, then shook his head. "What about Bellona?"

That name gave her pause, and she growled something out.

"She likes that one, but she would rather just be called Belle." Athena translated. "She doesn't want to be associated with a god or goddess… How did you know that…?"

Finn raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You've researched mythologies?"

Belle nodded, then turned her attention to something else. She slowly rose to her feet and looked around, snatching a stone from the streambed. Carefully balancing it in her hand, she scanned the forest nearby, then winged the stone into the foliage. There was the thud of stone hitting flesh, and another Machoke walked out of the tree line, holding the rock in its hand.

"Hey Ares, what'd you find?" A voice called out as a second figure came into view.

To Finn's surprise, the newcomer was a familiar face. A bit less of a kid than the last time they had met, but the same person no doubt. "Anthony?"

"Oh, hey! It's Finn, right?" Anthony stepped forward. He was notably taller than the last time Finn had seen him. "Haven't seen you since that mountain trail from Teret City. How've you been?"

"Pretty good, all things considered." Finn replied. "What brings you here?"

"Well, I'm doing a gym circuit." Anthony said as if that was all that was necessary, which it really was. "I, uh, wanted to apologize to you, but I couldn't locate you after that battle on the mountain."

"Apologize for what?" Finn asked.

"I was kinda insensitive about you losing your Sewaddle." Anthony scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I didn't really think of it like that, like a Pokémon was a friend rather than a pet. Needless to say, you changed my point of view." The kid patted the arm of the Machoke next to him. "Anyways, Ares evolved since last time. I see you've got a Machoke too, you wanna battle?"

Finn hesitated, glancing sidelong at Belle. She was glaring at the other Machoke with an intense hatred, a look that Finn had seen a couple times before. In return, Ares was giving her an appraising look, and for some reason it made Finn feel uncomfortable. "I'll battle, but not with her."

"Alright then." Anthony nodded. Ares didn't seem to take it so well, crushing the stone in his hand as he gave Finn a malicious glare. "Calm down Ares, he's not trying to insult you."

The male Machoke just snorted.

"I just caught her." Finn said explanatorily. He had no doubt that Belle could take Ares down, but what he didn't want was for her to kill the other Machoke. "I have three others though."

"Sweet, so it'll be three-on-three." Anthony enthusiastically agreed.

"C'mon, I know a good place we can battle." Finn stood up and gestured for the others to follow. Anthony followed immediately, a good-natured smile on his face. Ares trailed just behind him, occasionally shooting glances back at Belle, who didn't move from her spot. Athena tapped the female Machoke on the shoulder and whispered something, then floated up next to Finn.

Finn led Anthony to the clearing where Nyx and Jitters were still waiting. The two were napping, Nyx suspended upside down from a tree branch with Jitters wrapped in her arms. As soon as Finn entered the clearing the Gliscor opened her eyes. "Hi Finn."

"Get ready for battle Nyx, Jitters." Finn directed.

Nyx dropped off the branch and landed on her feet, gently shaking Jitters to wake him up.

"Wow, a Gliscor and a Joltik? I thought Gliscor were rare in nature, and Joltik only live on the other side of Toreta?" Anthony marveled.

"A friend gave me a razor fang, and someone brought Jitters from elsewhere and released him." Finn explained. "So we both recall all our Pokémon and then send them out simultaneously?"

"Sounds good to me." Anthony agreed. He raised a Pokeball and recalled Ares, while Finn did the same with all three of his Pokémon.

Finn quickly sorted through his three Pokéballs. He only knew one of Anthony's Pokémon, being Ares the Machoke. The easy answer would've been Nyx, but he planned to save her in his back pocket. She was probably his strongest Pokémon, Belle not counted.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road." Finn grabbed his Pokéball of choice.

"Too right." Anthony grinned. "Alright Hermes, get out there!"

"Jitters, let's go!"

Jitters appeared in the clearing in front of Finn, while on the other side a steel covered bird formed. Finn raised his eyebrows at the sight of the Skarmory, but didn't lose his nerve. "Start out with a spider web!"

The Joltik rubbed his face with his front legs a couple of times, then looked directly at the Skarmory and spat a stream of silk, tangling up the flying type's wings. Acting on his own initiative, Jitters then followed up by spitting a connected web at the ground, then attempting to electrocute the silk. The plan was interrupted by Hermes' attack, a slice from one of its talons that shredded the spider webbing and untethering itself from the ground.

Hermes launched its metal body at Jitters, trying to crush the bug-type under its weight. Despite this violent assault, Jitters kept out of its reach, continually shooting bits of electrical silk at the Skarmory. It wasn't long before the mess of webbing immobilized the flying type, and it was knocked unconscious not long after.

"Good job Hermes, return!" Anthony held out the Skarmory's Pokéball and recalled it, leaving the webbing behind. That was when Finn realized what Anthony's plan was. Jitters was covered in his own webbing. "Janus, your turn!"

A four legged creature appeared, Finn recognized it instantly as a Girafarig. The two-headed creature immediately started by launching a beam of psychic energy at Jitters. The Joltik could only take a couple more of those hits, Finn knew, but he could still try his best to make it easier for Nyx to take the normal/psychic type down. Jitters managed to get off several full pin missiles before being taken out.

"Jitters, return." Finn recalled the Joltik. "Nyx, finish this off!"

Nyx emerged from the flash of light already prepared for battle. She immediately lunged at the Girafarig, her claws trailing the dark energy of a night slash. It proved to be enough to finish off the psychic type immediately.

Finn glanced to the side, spotting someone watching the battle. He grinned, and recalled Nyx as Anthony sent out his Machoke. "Alright Athena. Let's show our newest teammate why you're the leader."

* * *

 _Tap, tap, tap, tap…_

"Colress, report."

"The evolution inducing machines have proven successful, though I must say the methods that the others under my employ used were distasteful." The scientist answered, looking up at the figure in the throne. "And the DNA tests have yielded some interesting results. There is some bad news, however…"

"Well Colress," The gravelly voice growled. "What is it?"

"Project Talos has… flopped." Colress paused. "I could try to change the serum, but all of our subjects escaped."

"Team Rocket makes two of the most powerful Pokémon in existence, you have developed no less than ten artificial legendaries, yet this project fails." The voice scolded.

"In my defense, sir, Team Rocket had the DNA of a Mew, and the Genesect fossils are very difficult to locate." Colress explained. "As I said, I could alter the serum-"

"Don't bother. Project Talos is dead." The figure on the throne gestured for Colress to come closer.

The scientist approached the raised seat, taking a piece of paper from the seated figure. "What… what is this?"

"As you said, the DNA tests have yielded interesting results. I want you to act on them." The figure gestured at the paper. "That is what I want you to work on now."

"With all due respect sir, I must decline." Colress tried to hand the paper back.

"It is not an offer you can refuse, Colress." The figure growled.

"Then I must retire." Colress looked at the paper in disgust. "I will not do this. I have standards."

"Hmm, very well then." The man on the throne took the paper back. "It was good to work with you Colress."

"Farewell." Colress nodded, then stiffly walked off.

He only made it a few steps before the voice behind him gave another command.

"Put him in the holding cells."

Colress reached into his lab coat and pulled out a Pokéball. "Roswell, to battle!"

The Beeheyem appeared from the flash of light and raised its three fingered hands, charging a powerful psychic type attack. It never had the chance to release its attack, as a massive creature picked the diminutive humanoid up and hurled him into a wall, instantly incapacitating him.

Two humans ran up and grabbed Colress' arms, holding them away from his body to prevent him from activating any further Pokéballs.

"As I said, Colress." The man on the throne stood up, his left eye glinting evilly. "This is an offer you cannot refuse."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Things are really starting to heat up now. Belle obviously had a dark past, Anthony's Machoke is being unnecessarily rowdy, and Colress has been imprisoned.**

 **Name origin time!**

 **Bellona is the name of the Roman goddess of battle, fitting for the Machoke who can take out three Pokémon simultaneously while paralyzed and poisoned.**

 **Ares is the Greek god of warfare.**

 **Janus is the Roman god of pathways, gates, decisions, and beginnings.**

 **Hermes is the Greek god of just about everything. Jack of all trades, sort of thing.**

 **Since I forgot to put it in the chapter he showed up, Roswell is the name of a city in New Mexico where a UFO sighting was reported. The supposed alien sighting is the origin of Elgeyem and Beeheyem.**

 **As always, leave a review to let me know what you think!**


	17. Circus of the Dead

**Heads up. This chapter gets really morbid and dark, especially when compared to the rest of the story. Not anything that could raise it above a T rating, but enough to warrant me putting this up here.**

* * *

What happens after death?

Every religion believes something different.

The ancient Greeks believed that spirits went to the underworld, the realm of Hades. Those who were virtuous in life were permitted to live in a paradise, and possibly reincarnate. Those who were not were tormented for eternity, their punishment based upon their sins.

In Egypt there are innumerable variations on the mythology. However, the general form is not unlike Greek mythology. The souls would have their hearts weighed against the feather of a Bennu, a phoenix, and if the heart weighed more due to sin, it was consumed by a creature known as Ammet. If the heart was lighter, then the soul was sent to paradise.

Modern Christianity has two separate afterlives. The realm above, ruled over by God, was a paradise. The city of God, with walls of platinum and gemstones. A sanctuary, or rather, a heaven. The alternative was a realm below the world, where sinful souls are tormented endlessly by the Devil, the incarnation of evil. Of course, Christianity has experienced a multitude of schisms, leading to many varying views, but the general gist is the same.

In the Pokémon world, the most widespread religion is the Holy Church of Arceus. It is the only religion that has Pokémon members, mostly because they know for a fact that their god is real. They believe that those who live well are reborn, while those who commit atrocities are condemned to the Distortion World, home of Giratina the outcast.

A decent portion of the populace didn't have any particular religion.

Most of them think that the dead come back as ghosts.

* * *

"So how do genders work with ghost types anyways?"

"Not this whole thing again…"

Nyx landed behind Finn and started walking along, hopping up next to him. "But you never explained it. You're a magic sword, how are you a female, and how are other Honedge male?"

"I don't know! How are other Pokémon male and female, huh?" Athena sputtered.

"Well, male Gligar have larger stingers. I dunno about other Gliscor though, I've never met one." Nyx started. "Although there are other, less obvious differences, such as-"

Belle, who had been travelling silently behind the others up until now, chose right then to walk up and grab Nyx by the back of the neck, growling something in the Gliscor's ear.

Finn quickly grabbed Belle's Pokéball, thinking that it might've been a mistake to let the Machoke walk freely. "Belle…"

The Machoke glanced at Finn and quickly let go, grumbling some more. She quickly prodded Nyx in the back, obviously trying to get the flying type to translate. Nyx quickly did so. "She, uhm, doesn't want us to discuss that."

"Not blaming her there…" Finn muttered, walking on again.

They were nearing a clearing up ahead, and something was slightly… off. Jitters was uneasy, even more so than the little arachnid usually was. Belle's regular footsteps had gone completely silent, and Nyx's ears were rotating wildly.

That's when Finn realized that there were no sounds. No bugs buzzing, no birds chirping, not even a breeze blowing through the trees. He stopped just inside the clearing and looked around. There was a mound here, right in the center of this isolated grove, with an engraved stone set into the top.

Finn walked up onto the mound and kneeled, examining the stone. It was covered in weird, arcane runes that shifted as Finn looked at them. Just glancing at them made him feel…

Something.

Almost like kinship.

 _-AnD WhAt dO wE HavE HeRe?-_ dozens of voices spoke at once, all of them little more than a whisper.

Finn quickly stood up and backed away from the stone, looking around the clearing.

 _-iS THE mOrtaL afRAID of uS?-_ The voices giggled, and the trees around the mound began to shift, becoming an impenetrable wall. _-a TRuE sHamE, He WoULd fIT RigHT In!-_

Finn whirled and ran towards the place that he and his Pokémon entered the clearing, only to skid to a halt as he saw that it too was nothing but a wall of trees. Jitters chittered from his perch atop Finn's head, then began to shuffle around. Finn's hair began to stand on end from the Joltik's stored electricity.

On top of the mount, the stone cracked apart, splitting in two. From the bottom half rose a vile purple mist, its nebulous substance shaping itself into a ragged circle. Green orbs of energy began to form around the circumference of the fog's form. Right in the center of its ephemeral form were two luminous eyes and a jagged mouth, grinning cruelly at Finn. _-tHe PokéMoN, on The OthEr haNd… tHeY ArE UseLess. tOO pURe-_

"What… what are you?" Finn muttered, grabbing Athena's hilt and unsheathing her blade.

 _-We wErE liKe YOU onCe…-_ The voices multiplied, each one clamoring for Finn's attention. _-DArK mEn, OnE aNd aLL-_

 _-NoW, wE ArE Spiritomb!-_

Red chains of light shot from Spiritomb's whirling form, wrapping around each of Finn's Pokémon. The chains sat for a moment, then tightened around Athena's blade, separating themselves from Spiritomb's gaseous shape.

Athena immediately tried to teleport Finn to the monstrous ghost type, only for her move to fail. "Wha-?"

 _-SiLLy gIrL. ImPriSon PreVeNts you…-_ The Spiritomb taunted, its circular body floating closer to Finn and changing shape, morphing into a vaguely humanoid creature. The green eyes and grin remained the same, but the orbs of energy redistributed themselves to its joints. _-NoW I'lL fReE YoU fROm ThIs WorLd-_

Finn slashed at the Spiritomb, willing Athena to do something, anything. She remained inert, her eye wide with paralyzing fear.

 _-PerHaPs We'Ll UsE You as A vEsSel…-_ Spiritomb drew closer, its claw-like fingers gesturing towards Finn. Against his own accord, he took a single step forwards. _-ThEn wE cAn fInAlLy Be free…-_

Up on the mound –Finn now realized that it was a burial mound- Belle was trudging towards the stone that the Spiritomb was emanating from. Her eyes flashed with energy, then she slammed her fist down on the jagged rock.

Spiritomb roared in anger, then redistributed its body back to a circular face. Its grin contorted in rage. _-YoU… yOu aRe vErY, VeRy strong…-_

Belle hurled her fist at the creature's face, only to be stopped suddenly by a flash of energy in its eyes. She was completely immobilized by the Spiritomb's hypnotic power.

 _-We cOUld Use yoU. You arE sTrong enOUgH To EaRn a PoSiTiOn wITh us-_ Spiritomb's foggy form moved towards Belle, obviously seeking to envelop her in its body. - _BuT FiRsT… We'Ll hAve soMe fUn-_

Belle's eyes flashed with rage and… fear? In spite of everything that Finn had seen of Bellona, she had feared nothing. But this creature, with its insinuations of horrible atrocities, was terrifying the unshakeable Machoke. She growled rebelliously, and struggled to try and launch a punch at the nebulous monster.

 _-WhY dO YoU ReSisT uS?-_ Spiritomb taunted. _-YoU MaY EvEn EnJoY yoURseLf…-_

"Thanatos, astonish."

Out of nowhere, a bulky looking Pokémon appeared. Its glove-like hands smacked Spiritomb in the face, causing it to flinch backwards away from Belle. It immediately followed up with a pulse of red light from its solitary eye, then punched the Spiritomb hard.

 _-YoU!-_ The Spiritomb hissed at its attacker. - _You aRe a TrAiTor to OuR kInD!-_

 _-We are nothing alike-_ The massive cyclops replied, punching Spiritomb again. Its stomach opened, looking like a gaping maw, and started to vacuum the Spiritomb in. _-It is time to return you to your tomb-_

 _-NoOOoOoOoo!-_ Spiritomb wailed as its gaseous mass slowly pulled into its foe's hollow body. Individual wisps of gas pulled off of its main mass, clawing away from its inevitable doom. It didn't make any difference, as they were pulled into the cyclops' body regardless.

With a snap sounding like the jaws of death, the massive creature closed its body. It turned towards Finn and nodded in greeting, then sank through the ground.

"People never pay attention, do they…"

Finn turned around, looking around the clearing. A tall, lanky man walked out of the seemingly impenetrable tree line, clad in a ragged cape and dark clothing, he looked like a ghost himself. With a wave of his hand, the trees that seemed to block the way out vanished, and a treelike Pokémon walked out of the forest. It scanned the clearing, then turned its red eye to the lanky man. After a moment of what seemed to Finn like silence, it returned to the forest.

"Alright. Why did you enter the cursed grove?" The man asked Finn, walking towards him with an angry look in his eye. His black hair was plastered to his skull, but his red eyes made his lean face extremely intimidating.

"Cursed grove?" Finn asked back, confused. He put Athena back in her sheath, the poor Pokémon still paralyzed by her run-in with the Spiritomb. Nyx was curled up on the ground, and Finn could feel Jitters shivering in fear. Still on the burial mound, Belle was standing motionless, her fist still raised as if she was about to punch. After a moment, she slowly put her arm down and hugged herself.

"This is why I told them to post a watchman…" The stranger muttered, shaking his head. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out as he opened his eyes again. "My disciples clearly didn't listen when I told them to put up a sign or something. Didn't you notice that the atmosphere here is odd?"

"Um." Finn scratched the back of his head. "Not… not until I got to this clearing."

"Well, at least you're not one of the nuts who tried to catch the Spiritomb." The red-eyed man nodded at the broken stone atop the burial mound. "You wouldn't believe how many times I've had to come here and take down an idiot who thought he could catch it, but wound up becoming another vessel. Just be thankful that the Trevenant didn't decide to terminate you before you reached the clearing. They aren't as likely to stall or change targets."

"You seem to know a lot about ghost types…" Finn noted, wracking his brain.

"Well, I almost am one." The stranger raised a gloved hand, tugging the glove off a bit. Instead of his pale skin, it was putrefied flesh, the smell of it causing Finn to reel. "I get that reaction a lot."

"You're Mono, aren't you?" Finn snapped his fingers.

Mono raised his eyebrows. "Well done. Most of the people who wind up here are either clueless or have all eight badges. If I may ask, what gave it away?"

"The ghost types, the rotting skin, and the ability to commune with the dead." Finn listed. "Because the gym leader Mono has a rare disease that causes the skin on his arms and legs to rot. In addition, you mentioned disciples, and the only notable person with disciples of sort is the medium Mono."

"Very observant." Mono complimented. He looked past Finn. "Thanatos, have you placed the Spiritomb back in its sepulcher?"

 _-Yes, sir-_ A ghostly voice answered. The hulking cyclops from before floated past Finn.

"Er," Finn pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket. "May I?"

"Thanatos?" Mono glanced at his Pokémon.

 _-I do not mind-_ Thanatos nodded.

Finn raised the Pokédex and activated the scanner.

[Thanatos]

[Dusknoir]

[Gripper Pokémon]

[Type: Ghost]

[Ability: Pressure. This Pokémon is imposing, and may cause its opponent to use more energy than usual in its attacks.]

[Gender: Male]

[It is commonly believed that Dusknoir can travel to unknown worlds, although there has been little evidence for this. It is true, however, that Dusknoir will guide lost spirits to the spirit world. Dusknoir have a bad reputation because of this, but in truth they are generally gentle. A Dusknoir will not tolerate the presence of malicious spirits, and will condemn them to eternal entrapment.]

"A Dusknoir, huh…" Finn said, putting his Pokédex away. "Those aren't very common, are they?"

 _-My species is rare. We require special objects to evolve into Dusknoir-_ Thanatos confirmed. _-These reaper-cloths are rare, so few Dusclops ever evolve.-_

Mono looked around the clearing and clicked his tongue. "We had better get out of here. The Spiritomb cannot leave the clearing without its keystone, but that doesn't stop it from possessing anyone who enters."

"Er. Right." Finn looked around the clearing again, then walked over to Nyx. He knelt down next to her and spoke tenderly. "It's alright. It's over now."

"I-it's gone?" Nyx slowly uncurled and looked up at Finn with her golden eyes. "Th-the monster left?"

"It's gone now." Finn reassured, reaching down and resting his hand atop Nyx's head. He stroked her exoskeleton reassuringly. "We do have to get out of here now though. Do you want to walk, or should I put you in your Pokéball?"

"I-I need some alone time." Nyx shuddered. "Please put me in the Pokéball."

Finn nodded and recalled the Gliscor, putting the minimized Pokéball on his belt. He would leave Nyx in the ball for a while, so she could recover. He stood up and walked across the burial mound to Belle.

The Machoke was still standing there, her arms wrapped tight around her body. She seemed frail, quite a far cry from the tall, broad-shouldered Machoke who had nearly killed Finn a week ago. Her eyes stared off into space as she shivered, her emotions not discernable.

"Belle?" Finn asked cautiously. "You okay?"

No response. Belle was just staring at the ground, shuddering almost imperceptibly.

"Do you want me to put you back in your Pokéball?"

Immediately, Belle reacted. Her arms unwrapped from around her shivering body and clenched into fists at her sides, her right reaching out and grabbing Finn by the head to push him to the side. Finn stumbled and nearly fell, but he did note that while her body might've been back under her control, her eyes still showed the fear that the Spiritomb had instilled.

Or perhaps, it had simply caused the fear to surface.

* * *

"So what was that thing, anyways?" Finn asked Mono.

Finn had returned three of his Pokémon to their Pokéballs, although Belle flat out refused to be returned. She was walking behind both Finn and Mono as they made their way to Geistom Town, Thanatos silently floating beside her. The ghost type might've been chatting with her, but Finn had discovered that ghost types had the ability to only be audible to whoever they wanted to talk with.

"The Spiritomb?" Finn nodded in confirmation, so Mono continued. "A conglomeration of malicious spirits. Most people think ghost types are undead, but the only ones that were living at any point in their lifespan are Spiritomb."

"It said that I could be its vessel." Finn recounted. "And said that my Pokémon were 'too pure' to be of use to it."

"It's no secret that Pokémon have souls that are nearly incorruptible. Unlike humans, they only do evil out of instinct or necessity, and thus no blame attaches to them." Mono explained. "Exceptions exist, of course, such as Shiftry who hunt down travelers or Malamar that capture people, but as a rule a Pokémon is not to blame for any pain they cause. In addition, they are not ones to dwell on the past. Many a human has dragged themselves into darkness because they refused to let go of their pain. As for why the Spiritomb wanted you as its vessel…"

Mono paused and gestured for Thanatos for come closer. After a moment of silent conversation, Thanatos reached out towards Finn. _–Allow me a moment to observe you aura, please-_

After a moment of hesitation, Finn nodded. Thanatos' glove-like hand emitted a steady blue light from the palm, and Finn could feel the energy pulsating from Thanatos' palm. It was simultaneously invasive and welcome, external and internal.

Thanatos recoiled almost immediately, and spoke to both humans. _–It is as you suspected. I… shall go speak to the damsel-_

With that, the ghost type backed slowly away from Finn, his visage locked in an emotionless stare. He quickly turned and floated over to Belle.

Mono took a deep breath and shook his head. "So, what happened to give you a dark aura?"

"If I had to guess, it would be that I was born." Finn said bitterly.

"Truly?" Mono raised an eyebrow. "Most people earn it or inflict it upon themselves."

"I have no clue what I've done to earn it, and I haven't tried to give myself an aura that makes Pokémon hate me." Finn muttered. "I've had it since I was five."

"That's… curious." Mono mused. "In any case, it explains not only your lack of reaction to the darkness of the cursed grove. Without a dark aura, you likely would've been warned off by your instincts. That made you a potential member of the Spiritomb's group. You are much easier for it to control, and it probably wanted to force you to carry its keystone with you. Probably not as an item in your bag, but possibly as a part of you. It's tried that before, but the auras of the experiments rejected it."

"It tried to implant the keystone into people?" Finn's face paled.

"Usually in the chest cavity or the head." The ghost specialist confirmed. "The practice is not unheard-of in Geistom Town. People who are dying will undergo a procedure to have their aura bound to an object, and from there they become effectively immortal. True, their body eventually decomposes; but their aura lives on."

"And then?" Finn couldn't help himself, his morbid curiosity was getting the better of him.

"We make them a new body, usually from clay." Mono grinned. "Where do you think Golett come from? The old ones may be new life entirely, but you can find newer ones with increasing frequency. Of course, sometimes they become a Yamask instead, usually due to the nature of the object their aura is bound to."

"That's just…" Finn shook his head. "Creepy."

"Most people think that way." Mono nodded. "But when you spend all day with ghost types and lingering spirits, the thought of becoming one is more natural."

"So why haven't I heard of this before? It would be all over the place normally. So many people try to cheat death." Finn said.

"Well, for starters the process is agonizingly painful." Mono listed. "Or so I've heard. It also doesn't work anywhere else in the world. Geistom Town is directly over a portal to the distortion world, and the energy that comes through that portal makes the aura transfer possible. Lastly, the fact that we get maybe three visitors a month, and only because of trainers trying to earn the patience badge, means that there isn't enough information travelling either in or out." Mono shrugged. "Oh, and the rituals we have to do are sacred. I can't tell anyone how to actually perform them, or Arceus' might will strike me down."

"Harsh punishment." Finn noted.

"It has to be." Mono shrugged again.

Finn looked around the forest, then gasped. "What happened here?"

All the trees were leafless, and almost all of them had bark that looked charred and black. The grass below their feet was yellow and dry, and there was absolutely no other plant life. Finn couldn't even hear bugs buzzing or birds chirping.

"A rare phenomenon. These trees aren't dead, far from it. They thrive in this environment, feeding off of the energy of the distortion portal." Mono lightly touched the bark of one of the trees, then flinched and brought his hand back to his side. "They look dead, smell dead, and in all senses are dead, but they leak sap when cut, they oxygenate the air, and they purify the ground. The grass likewise, and it burns well. As for the lack of wildlife, well, that's because the wildlife here is hidden. Watch."

Mono knelt at the base of one of the trees and pulled the dirt away from its roots, face scrunched in pain. As soon as he pulled the layer of soil away, an insectoid head poked out of the dirt, chittering in irritation. The Nincada quickly pulled the dirt back over itself, burying itself in soil once more.

"There are also Chingling hiding within the hollow trees, Vulpix in some of the bigger patches of grass, and innumerable ghost types." Mono continued. "But now, we're at our destination."

The red-eyed man gestured, directing Finn's attention forwards. Directly in front of the two was an arched gateway with a skull design placed over the center. To one side of the gate was a towering turquoise humanoid creature, a Golurk. The other side of the gate had a human guard, but they only barely qualified as such. The man was mostly bone, with a gaping hole in his chest revealing his ribs and, in place of his heart, a stone with lines of pulsating energy hovered. His skin was grey and taut, and his eyes were glassy.

Upon closer inspection, Finn realized that the man's eyes were actually made of glass. This man was obviously not fully alive, but then he wasn't exactly dead either.

"Greetings Reaves, Dorfl." Mono waved at the two guards. "How've you been?"

"Eh, could be better." The human replied, moving one of his arms awkwardly. "M'elbow popped outta its socket, but I'll be gettin' it fixed once m'shift's over. Whatta 'bout you, Dorfl?"

The Golurk rumbled to life. _–All Is Fine. No Intrusive Pokémon Or People Have Approached-_

"Thank you, Dorfl." Mono nodded at the turquoise golem. "Best of luck to the two of you, I'm off to the gym."

"See you later Mister Numer." Reaves saluted the gym leader as Mono led Finn through the gateway into Geistom Town.

The town as a whole wasn't as unnerving or decrepit as the gate would lead someone to believe. Despite the dead looking flora of the place, the buildings were fairly normal. Behind Finn and Mono, Thanatos nodded at the two guards, while Belle glared at Aram. She didn't seem to know what to think about Dorfl, so she more or less ignored the ghost type.

"When you're ready, make your way to the graveyard. You'll spot the gym immediately. Until then, I suggest you go to the Pokémon center." Mono pointed at the red roofed building. "That Spiritomb has a knack for hypnotism and mind manipulation. Just entering the clearing can cause damage that only a center's machine can heal."

With that, the caped man walked off. "I'll be waiting."

* * *

Despite Belle's stubborn tendencies when it came to her Pokéball, Finn had managed to get all of his Pokémon in their confining capsules and onto the healing machine at the Pokémon center. With that out of the way, and the sanity of his Pokémon secured, Finn made his way to the graveyard.

It was pretty obvious what the gym was.

Where most of the graveyard was dominated by innumerable tombstones, there was a single mausoleum that dominated the graveyard. There was the Pokéball logo that marked it as a league-sanctioned structure, but even more prominently were the cyclopean statues that stood guard at the pillared entrance. The twin Dusknoir statues clearly showed that it was a place of sacred importance, and in a world of Pokémon battling, a gym was very important.

As soon as Finn entered, he knew that bringing Belle out of her Pokéball while in here would be disastrous. The Machoke would probably rebel at the death-filled atmosphere, and Finn wouldn't be able to stop her from obliterating the catacombs.

Of course, the Gym's challenge was probably a bigger problem.

With the living dead that were present in this town, some really unnerving and creepy things were possible.

Such as a stealth horror game where you were forcibly escorted back to the start if you were spotted by the zombies with searchlight eyes. They were terrifying too, oftentimes with holes in their torso or head, leaving their animating stones visible. They also inevitably had red lights inside their heads, meaning that wherever they were focusing their attention was lit up by a red spotlight.

Finn was pretty much terrified the whole time he tried to sneak through. The theme of the gym was patience, and the implementation was that the roaming undead wouldn't grab the challenger until said challenger actually entered the red light. There were multiple moments when it was impossible to get through, meaning that the only reason that Finn even got through was by, well, waiting.

So, after maybe an hour of carefully timing his movements, Finn finally reached Mono.

The gym leader was lying in a coffin, his arms across his chest and his eyes closed. To someone who wasn't paying attention, he looked dead. The steady rise and fall of his chest betrayed the fact that he was sleeping.

As soon as Finn walked up to the coffin, Mono's eyes snapped open. The gym leader grinned unnervingly. "So you're here."

Finn blinked. "I saw that you were sleeping, but your breathing changed once I stepped out of the maze section."

"Can't blame a man for trying." Mono shrugged and climbed out of the coffin, revealing the cushiony interior. "How did you like the catacombs?"

"I nearly hid in a sarcophagus." Finn blanched.

"Not a bad strategy, considering that the people on patrols will ignore you if you do something clever like that." Mono paused. "Although from your tone of voice I take it that you didn't see it like that."

"The sarcophagus was occupied." Finn muttered, swallowing. "You may be used to it, but the dead are still creepy to me."

"Part of the trainer program is to get younger people out to learn and diversify." Mono replied. "Geistom Town has some strange things when you compare it to other places, but each place has a different culture. In Kalos, some Pokémon are purely used for grooming. In Hoenn there are contests where Pokémon show off their moves. Here, we utilize the energy of Giratina to keep the dead among us."

"Not really weird, just…" Finn thought for a moment. "A different normal."

"You understand!" Mono exclaimed happily. "Now, with that out of the way, let us precede our battle with a prayer."

Mono turned to the wall behind him, the coffin he was laying in sinking into the floor. The wall opened to reveal a large chamber, the far wall engraved with images of the legendary Pokémon. Mono walked into the room and bowed his head before the wall, moving his hands as he spoke.

"Reshiram behind me, guarding my past." Mono's left hand lowered. "Zekrom in front, guiding my future." His right hand raised. "I pray to Arceus above." His right hand drew the Crest of Arceus on his chest. "And I thank Giratina below." His left hand drew the Horns of Giratina on his forehead. "With the gift of life, and the peace of death, I enter this battle honorably. Amen."

The gym leader bowed, then turned around, gesturing with his right hand as if calling something out. Three Pokéballs floated into the room from the sides, each one floating around Mono's head. Mono cast out his right hand, causing one of the Pokéballs to float forwards and release its contents. "Aram, it is time for battle."

A squat, turquoise form appeared, with brown leather straps holding an arcane emblem on its chest. Its two blocky yellow eyes were lit by an inner energy, and that same energy leaked from its joints. Finn wondered if this Golett had once been human, as Mono had already told him that some Golett and Golurk were once human beings.

"Nyx, you can do this." Finn sent the Gliscor out onto the battlefield. She shook her head and gathered her bearings, then raised her claws.

"Aram, ice punch." Mono directed.

"Nyx, ice fang!" Finn quickly told his Pokémon.

Nyx launched herself across the arena, faint mist spewing from her mouth. The flying scorpion sank her fangs down into the Golett's arm, causing it to be encased in ice. Immediately, the golem slammed its other fist into Nyx's slim torso, spreading ice crystals all over the flying type's body. Nyx's claws came down, glimmering with an unbidden night slash, and incapacitated the smaller Pokémon.

Mono blinked in surprise. "I didn't expect Aram to fall so quickly. Return."

The Golett vanished back into its Pokéball, and the sphere floated behind Mono. Mono gestured forwards once more, sending another Pokéball forwards. "Autumn, it is time for battle."

A plantlike creature appeared, with an ashen white head and an amorphous body, it had ice blue eyes peeking out of the stump that made up its head, and there were red leaves sprouting from the branches on the sides. This was a Phantump, and a shiny one at that.

"Nyx, return for now." Finn raised the Gliscor's Pokéball and called her back, leaving the ice crystals behind. "Jitters, I'm relying on you."

Finn hurled the Pokéball, releasing the little yellow bug type onto the battle field. Jitters started shaking quickly, spreading his needle-like hairs in a cloud around him. The Phantump generated an orb of blue light that circled quickly around it, then launched the orb at Jitters.

The bug type didn't know what to think of the confuse ray, but he quickly decided that closing his eyes as it circled him was the best option. Jitters continued to vibrate almost imperceptibly, thickening the cloud of hairs. With a jump straight up to evade the vortex of glowing orbs that had collected about him, he opened his eyes and launched the whole cloud at Autumn.

While the Phantump was trying to inflict numerous status conditions upon Jitters, it didn't realize that there was a literal swarm of pin missiles flooding towards it. Autumn's eyes widened as it saw the incoming cloud of missiles, and Mono's quick prompts for a protect fell flat. The needle-hairs hit, and the sheer number immediately caused the Phantump to fall unconscious.

"Quite impressive. I've rarely seen a Pokémon move that quickly, and never with that much effectiveness." One of the levitating Pokéballs recalled the Phantump. "Not even mentioning the fact that your Joltik closed his eyes to avoid confuse ray, and then managed to take out Autumn before it landed back in the mess of confusion orbs."

"I figured the pin missile cloud strategy out when I was battling Heather back in Canyen." Finn replied, recalling Jitters out of the vortex of glowing lights. "Since then, I've been having him start battles with it. He can just build up a cloud the instant he enters the battlefield, from there it's just a matter of time before his opponent goes down."

"That strategy will only work until you run into something that resists bug type moves." Mono cautioned. He gestured, sending the third Pokéball forwards. "This next Pokémon has yet to lose a battle, and as such believes that she does not need to listen to me. I'm thinking that you're the one who can fix this problem. Persephone, it is time for battle."

The Pokeball practically exploded with light, and a towering creature appeared. Finn quickly figured out what it was, with its mitt-like hands and mummy wrapping body, the creature was obviously a Dusclops. Where Finn found a problem was with its size. Persephone was nearly eight feet tall, and her red gaze made Finn shudder as she locked her solitary eye on him.

"Athena, let's show them what you can do!" Finn grabbed the Honedge's Pokéball and hurled it, deploying her onto the battlefield. "Autotomize and swords dance, quickly!"

After quickly getting her bearings, Athena dropped her sheath and began to slash the ground. With each slash, she got faster and faster, her body metal shaving off and making her all the faster. She quickly followed up by conjuring a quartet of ghost swords, each one infusing her blade with another layer of energy.

Athena proceeded to vanish and reappear, slicing at the massive Dusclops each time she blinked into existence.

To Finn's dismay, it was completely ineffective.

Persephone slowly turned to face Athena, completely ignoring the Honedge's attacks. From within the bandages of the towering monster a nail was produced. The Dusclops grabbed the nail and raised it high into the air, stabbing it through its own body.

Finn's eyes widened as he realized that Persephone had just cursed Athena. The only way for Finn to continue with this strategy was to do something drastic.

"Alright Athena, small change of plans." Finn pointed at the Dusclops. "Direct your next shadow sneak _into_ the Dusclops."

"Are you sure?" Athena asked, turning to look at Finn.

"Just do it!" Finn insisted.

"If you say so…" Athena vanished, the darkness of the room more than providing her with the ability to shadow sneak at will.

Across the room, Persephone's lone eye widened. Rips and tears were beginning to appear with increasing frequency all over the towering Pokemon's body as Athena slashed at the hollow ghost type's insides.

"All right, that's enough." Mono said, raising his hand. Persephone's bandages all fell to the ground in a useless heap, showing a very, very confused Athena. The only thing that remained was the Dusclops' glowing red eye, and a nail that was skewering… nothing. The metal wedge was just floating.

"Wha…?" Finn sputtered.

 _-A rather clever trick. Most Pokémon would be incapable of it, but ghost types can escape nearly any confinement. As far as I know, the only ones that they cannot are the binding containment of a Dusknoir, and bindings enacted by legendaries-_

"Thank you for your assistance, old friend." Mono said as Thanatos appeared, revealing that the nail was embedded in the Dusknoir's torso.

The huge ghost type pulled the nail out of its side with a wince and nodded at Mono. _–It's been good to fight again. Even if it was just a ruse-_

"So- he- the whole time?" Finn tried to make sense of the situation and failed.

"Yes, Thanatos was the Dusclops." Mono laughed. "You're the first one to have that trick used on them in a while. Usually I save it for people with five or more badges, but everyone thinks that patience will be an easy challenge to overcome." Mono walked off, gesturing for Finn to follow. "Admittedly, sending your Honedge to teleport into a Dusclops would be something I reprimand you for, but since she is, in fact, a ghost type, you could easily get away with that against an actual Dusclops."

"I'm more than a little confused." Finn muttered.

"There are plenty of things going on behind the scenes. Most of them are Thanatos, really." Mono admitted, walking up to a computer. He nodded at the screen, which developed a pair of eyes and a grinning mouth. "Just plug your Pokédex in real quick." Finn did so as Mono continued. "Permanently rotting nerves mean that touching anything causes me incredible agony. To fix this, I have my ghost types assist. Persephone is a real Pokémon, a Duskull, in fact. She's one of Thanatos's offspring, and she is the one who usually carries my Pokéballs for me. Meanwhile, Hack, the little devil, runs my computer, my bed is a Cofagrigus who wakes me up without physical contact, and Thanatos manages just about everything else. However…"

Mono narrowed his eyes in concentration and put his hands close together. A ball of light formed before Finn's eyes, and from the center of that light appeared a vaguely circular badge. The badge floated up and landed in his hand. From the pocket of his dark uniform, a disc with a faint purple sheen floated into his other hand.

"This is the patience badge." Mono held the badge up. "The human half of the face shows the benefits of patience, while the skull shows what happens to those who are impatient." He handed the badge to Finn. "And this, is a TM for shadow claw. I get the feeling that you've been relying on shadow sneak for your Honedge's attacks, but this will be a much more powerful move for her."

Finn took the badge and TM, putting the former in his badge case and the latter in his bag. "So then… is that it?"

"Indeed it is. Just grab your Pokédex and you can be on your way." Mono nodded.

Finn unplugged his dex from the computer and put it back in his pocket, then turned and started off.

"Oh, and Finn?"

"Hmm?" Finn turned back to see Mono wink.

"Differently normal, right?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **With all that finally out of the way, I want to ask you all. What do you think of the zombies? I worked off of the idea that a soul and an aura are one and the same; after all, aura is life energy, and a soul is the essence of a person's being. If you apply the principle that allows Spiritomb to exist to a living person, you wind up with a somewhat less than living person who is still able to move and be (mostly) human. Anyways, a little spooky thing I decided to implement because Halloween is drawing near.**

 **I bet none of you were expecting there to be a gym battle in here with the chapter title, huh?**

 **Now then, on to name origins!**

 **Thanatos: Greek god of death**

 **Dorfl: Took this one from one of my favorite authors: Terry Pratchett.**

 **Persephone: Greek goddess of spring, but also the queen of the underworld**

 **Hack: It's a Rotom. They hack into computers. Not that difficult.**

 **Mono: He has a Dusknoir...?**

 **Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed. Please leave a review to let me know what you think, and remember to read on!**


	18. Decay

Across the world, death is feared almost universally.

Sure, some people may claim that they aren't afraid of death, but in truth they are terrified. Any living being fears death, and those that don't are usually insane. What makes someone unique is in their reaction to the prospect of death. It's said that heroes can look death in the eye without feeling fear, but in reality it's a matter of not flinching.

Then you can consider the living dead.

In many ways, they are feared far more than death itself. They are human enough to be familiar, but inhuman enough to be scary. They have seen death, and do not fear it. They sometimes have decomposing body parts, or are nothing but bones.

But truly, why do people fear the living dead?

After all, despite their undead state, they are still people. In some cases they are mindless slaves, or emotionless masters, but they were people once. Simply people who have died and returned.

When you think about it…

That's what really scares people.

* * *

With Geistom Town behind him, Finn was already heading to his new destination. Skolar City was still a long distance away, but Finn didn't mind. More time on the road was more time to prepare, as well as more time to try and get Belle to stop hating him. Ever since that episode with the Spiritomb, she had grown increasingly distant. He wasn't going to let this continue indefinitely, but neither would he force Belle.

He still couldn't help but wonder what had happened to make her so distant. Clearly she was once part of some experiment, but Finn had no idea what sort of thing she had been through. It had certainly left her with power and moves that she shouldn't have had. Then she was more intelligent than most Pokémon, even taking into account that Machoke and related Pokémon were genetically very close to humans. Something had clearly changed her to what she was now, and it wasn't nature.

Finn still didn't trust her in battle though.

Not to say that he didn't want to trust her, but as of right now it was simply a bad idea. Finn may have been an optimist, but he wasn't a fool. Then there was the fact that she had clearly gone through some trauma. He didn't want to put her through something that would remind her of that trauma.

Finn wasn't too worried about it either. He had plenty of time before he would need to put her into combat. He had three other Pokémon who he could rely upon. Jitters was still as skittish as any Joltik, but he had gained a great deal of confidence in his abilities. Nyx had managed to gain the coordination needed to battle in midair. Athena was still going strong, probably being more than capable of taking out the other two on her own.

 _Thunk_

"What the…?" Finn muttered, looking around. He hadn't been paying too much attention to the environment, mostly because it was so monotonous. There were dead-looking trees everywhere, and the ground was largely flat.

 _Thunk_

There it was again, that rhythmic sound. Every few seconds, _thunk._

Then there was an additional noise in the background.

It sounded like singing.

Finn couldn't make out the words clearly, but the singer had a deep, melodious voice. It was almost hypnotic, really. It was only once he got a bit closer that Finn realized that the singer was singing in another language. A language that, while Finn couldn't understand the seemingly impossible to pronounce words, somehow got its meaning across.

It was a song about the holy warriors of Arceus.

Specifically, the lengths that they went to in order to put the dead at ease.

 _Thunk_

The singing stopped for a moment, and the singer spoke. Finn could clearly hear the man speak, meaning that he had to have been just out of sight.

"Should be enough wood. The high priest should be happy."

 _Thunk_

"And one more for good measure. Mono better conserve these better than last time. One second spent away from guard duty is one second that Geistom is at risk…"

Finn entered a clearing, finally locating the speaker. To his surprise, it was the undead guard from when Mono had taken him into Geistom town in the first place. The unnaturally grey-skinned man buried his axe in a tree stump and picked up a large pile of logs.

"Um… hi?" Finn asked.

The undead jumped and dropped the pile of logs, whirling quickly to look at Finn. His voice immediately took on a country drawl. "Er, howdy there young'un. How can I help ye today?"

"I, uh, heard you singing…?" Finn trailed off, not sure what to say next.

"So the accent's not going to work any more, is it?" The desiccated man's accent vanished, returning to the deep melodious tones that it his voice held when he was singing. "What do you want?"

"Well, I didn't mean to interrupt your job," Finn explained, "I was just on my way to Skolar City, but I heard your singing, and-"

"You want to know what the song is." The zombie finished for him. "Only about three living people can sing that song, and a small handful of undead. It's a war prayer."

"So you were a warrior?" Finn asked.

"Not just a warrior." The undead grabbed the axe and wrenched it out of the stump, holding it up in a single scrawny arm. "I was a paladin. A holy knight. Not just anyone can get their hands on one of these axes, especially seeing as they can only be made by a high priest of Arceus."

The tool in his hand shimmered and changed, becoming a silver war axe. The double-headed axe had inlaid golden highlights in the form of Arceus' crest, with two emeralds on each blade and a ruby in the center. Reaves twirled the axe a couple times, then stared at the crest inlaid into it. "It's been forever since I've had to use it for combat purposes. A real shame, that."

That made Finn's eyes widen. "I could duel you."

"You?" The zombie raised an eyebrow. "No offense kid, but you don't have a weapon on you."

"No, but I have a Honedge." Finn snatched Athena's Pokéball and released her to the outside world.

"Well, well, well. Color me surprised. You fight using a live ghost sword?" The zombie shook his head in amazement. "The name's Reaves Tenant. I'm probably the oldest undead as of right now."

"Finnegan Ferris. This is my Honedge Athena." Finn introduced himself.

"Athena, huh?" Reaves dropped his axe to a two-handed hold. "Interesting choice of name."

"I find it fitting." Finn grabbed Athena's grip and unsheathed her.

Finn settled into a combat stance. More and more, he felt like Athena shared his thoughts. The Honedge had been more than ready for combat upon release, and not just Pokémon battling. Of course, if that was the case it worked both ways. He was more tactically minded than ever before as well.

With an unsaid agreement, both of the warriors launched into combat.

Reave's axe took on a shimmering blue sheen, one that Finn had seen when Sparks had knocked Darrell out. He didn't get much time to reflect on it, however, as the undead slashed at Finn with the heavy weapon. Finn quickly tried to parry, only to find that the axe had a weight behind it that was impossible for both him and Athena combined to stop. The axe stopped a fraction of an inch away from his head, and Reaves chuckled.

"Guess I get round one then." Reaves lifted his axe and rested it on his shoulder.

"What was that blue stuff on your axe?" Finn muttered, stretching his arms.

"Aura barrier. It's there to dampen the impact so I don't wind up hurting you." Reaves explained, dropping back into a combat stance. "Ready for the next one?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Then on your guard!" Reaves launched himself forwards with his axe, slashing sideways.

 _"Now then Ratherian, how do you defeat a foe who uses incredible physical strength as their primary asset?" Master asked._

 _He paused. He had only been a Gallade for a matter of months, but Master had taken him in. Master knew talent when he saw it, and he was certainly talented. Now that he was under Master's tutelage and care, he was being rigorously drilled so that his inner potential was put to its full potential._

 _"Be faster?" He guessed._

 _"That is part of it, but how do you utilize your speed?"_

 _"To… dodge?" He hazarded._

 _"While you were, in fact, guessing, that is correct." Master grinned. "Now then, let's put the knowledge to use."_

 _Master picked up a two-handed claymore, then swung._

Finn jumped, the axe whistling under his feet. He stomped downwards, driving the weapon down into the dirt, then thrusted Athena's blade forwards.

 _Shnik_

Finn blinked, then looked down. Somehow, some way, he had jumped three feet into the air, stomped down hard enough to hammer a war axe into the ground, and then impaled his dueling partner. He stepped back, pulling the blade out of Reaves' decaying torso. "Uh."

Reaves looked down at the hole in his torso. Finn's attack had managed to pierce all the way to his spine. "Well, must say I didn't expect that. You gained a sudden burst of skill right there…" Reaves chuckled, then looked at Finn's frozen expression. "Don't worry about it. Being dead has its perks, among them being the fact that my aura can be focused to do specific tasks."

The wound began to visibly close, vanishing in seconds.

"Now that that's done with, I'm willing to give you the full win for that little trick right there. I forfeit entirely." Reaves shook his head in amazement. "Is that why you wanted to duel so much?"

"I…" Finn started, then stopped. He wasn't certain why he had wanted to fight so badly. "I'm undergoing combat training, from a Gallade. He put some of his memories in my head. That's why I did the jump thing, and probably why I wanted to fight in the first place."

"A Gallade teaching you swordsmanship, huh?" Reaves raised an eyebrow. "What's his name?"

"Rath." Finn answered.

"Ah, I remember him. He's an old one. Rath's been around for much longer than any other Gallade I've heard of," Reaves said, "I don't even know how old he really is."

"Hm…" Finn hummed to himself, thinking. "He's told me some about my aura and how it repels others. You use aura, right? Can you tell me more?"

"Sorry kid." Reaves wrenched his axe out of the ground and twirled it, returning it to a hatchet. "I lost the ability to see and examine auras when I died. When I was alive, I was one of the most powerful aura users alive, but dying changed my auric capabilities."

"So I guess I'll have to look elsewhere for my answers. Thanks anyways." Finn sighed. "So why were you trying to hide who you were?"

"Well, let me lay it out for you." Reaves dropped back into his accent. "Ya don't suspect ol' hillbilly Reaves ta be nothin' special, do ya?" His accent vanished again. "People really hate the paladins of Arceus nowadays. They call us religious nuts. I don't blame them, either. Some of my comrades were intolerant of any other religion. Personally, I don't care if you worship Arceus, God, or even a flying blob of pasta." Reaves sighed. "That doesn't mean that people wouldn't actively hunt me down if they knew."

"That's messed up," Finn muttered, "They're just as bad as the intolerant zealots."

"Can't argue with you there." Reaves looked at the wood pile, then back at Finn. "Know what… I think I have something I need your help with. How would you like to take down a part of Team Plasma?"

Finn's eyes widened, then he grinned.

* * *

"So what's going on here?" Finn asked, looking into the valley at the building. Grunts clad in black patrolled around, some of them holding firearms.

"They've brought in some rare Pokémon, but I've never seen one come out." Reaves scanned the area. "A Gengar friend of mine has been watching this place for the past few months. He hasn't gone in, but he has noted that there are some weird things going on inside. Auric disturbances."

"Why don't you get Mono to help you? Isn't his job to make sure things like this don't happen?" Finn queried.

"High Priest Mono can't do anything about this. Come to that, neither can I." Reaves pointed at the building. "The outpost is private property, meaning we can't enter without reason. In addition, they own all the Pokémon that have gone in. By the code of Arceus, and the law, we cannot interfere with a trainer's interaction with their Pokémon unless we see them mistreating the Pokémon."

"Uh-huh." Finn looked at the outpost again. "So why am I here?"

"The grounds around the outpost are not, in fact, private property." Reaves grinned. "Those are under the jurisdiction of the town of Geistom. While carrying weapons in this area is far from prohibited, as some of the Pokémon that live here are dangerous if you're not careful, they have shown themselves to be a little trigger happy. They've shot at me a few times, but they got away with it on the grounds of me being a 'terrifying monster'" Reaves made air quotes. "Mono tried a couple times, but they just locked him out and ignored him. If you go in and they threaten you, well." The undead shrugged and grinned. "I'm duty-bound to investigate."

"For someone who is honorbound to tell the truth, you really are sneaky," Finn muttered, "First the hillbilly accent that wasn't actually a lie, now this."

"If I wasn't good at bending words, I'd be a pile of bones by now." Reaves shrugged. "Now get in there. I won't let them shoot you, but I need you to make them at least point their guns at you."

With a heavy sigh, Finn walked down into the valley. Athena was out of her Pokéball, but she wasn't visible. The Honedge knew how to remain invisible, and being a ghost type gave her many options. While Honedge and its evolutions couldn't turn invisible, they could turn intangible. Athena utilized that to watch from under the ground.

Finn glanced at the black-clothed people as they patrolled around the building. They had hats with a gray letter X on them, and on their black vests there was the P/Z shield of team Plasma. Just the sight of the emblem made Finn angry, but he did his best not to show it.

One of the grunts finally took note of Finn, the black-clad youth straightening and glaring at Finn. "Hey! No unauthorized personnel!"

Finn ignored him and continued on, knowing that just one Plasma grunt wouldn't dare to point a firearm at him. As Finn suspected, the grunt was hesitant about using his handgun, and unsure about using a Pokémon battle to scare Finn off.

But Finn did manage to draw more attention. Two more Plasma grunts deviated from their patrols, on with a shotgun resting in his hands, the other with a Pokéball ready for deployment.

"Ready Athena?" Finn said quietly.

"I'll get you out." Was the reply.

"You there! Leave the premises at once!" The shotgun toting grunt shouted.

"This is a public forest, owned by the town of Geistom. I am within my rights to walk here," Finn shouted back, not a trace of anger in his voice, "So it is not, in fact, within _your_ rights to tell me what to do!"

"Really? Then in that case, bucko." The grunt walked closer, then raised his shotgun. Beside him, the other grunt let out her Pokémon, a Muk. "I suggest you get on the ground and stop arguing with the man with a gun."

Finn put his hand on his chin in a thinking pose, then shrugged. "Fine then."

With startling speed, Finn dropped to the ground and grabbed a handle that hadn't been there before. To the surprise of the grunts, he vanished entirely, only to be replaced by a three-dimensional shadow. The shadow sunk into the ground, then wrapped barely tangible tendrils of darkness around all three grunts and the poison type.

After a fraction of a second, Finn reappeared at the tree line, Athena floating beside him. "I must say, you're getting a lot better at using shadow sneak."

"You're the one who pointed out that it wasn't just teleportation," Athena replied.

"Well, I guess I have Rath to thank for that one…" Finn muttered, thinking about the odd 'flashbacks' that periodically occurred. This latest one was about the usage of shadow sneak, a move Finn hadn't realized Gallade could even know.

As Finn and Athena were talking, Reaves descended into the valley at a leisurely pace. His hatchet was resting on his shoulder, and in his right hand he was holding a police ID.

"Good morning to you!" The undead cheerfully said, "My name is Reaves Tenant, I am the sheriff, police chief, or other law-enforcement agent that you choose to call me, of the Geistom area! I couldn't help but notice how you, shall we say, greeted that young man."

"It was a ghost," One of the grunts claimed, struggling against the supernatural bindings.

"On the contrary." Reaves waved at Finn, signaling him to come back. "There are such things as ghost type Pokémon that know how to transport human beings. One of them, for example, being Honedge."

Finn waved at the grunt as the man glanced at Athena. The black-clad man deflated in defeat. "What do you want?"

"Seeing as you assaulted an innocent, I'm going to have to investigate that building over there." Reaves nodded at the high-tech facility. "And seeing as I have probable cause, this is entirely legal. Don't even try to pull that card."

"Okay Athena, I think you can let them go now." Finn whispered to his Pokémon.

The shadowy tendrils dissipated like smoke, allowing the Plasma grunts free movement once more. The grunt with the shotgun stared off into space for a moment, then raised his firearm and shot at Reaves.

"Really?" Reaves looked down at the hole in his chest, a faint blue glow already appearing at the ragged edges of the wound. The flesh and skin began to knit itself together. "Not the first time this has happened, but seriously? You should have learned by now that this doesn't work."

The grunt gulped and backed away, gesturing to his cohorts to back off with him. In moments Reaves had a clear field between him and the Plasma outpost.

"Alright Finnegan, let's go."

Reaves and Finn approached the building, the undead putting his badge back into his pocket. "Good usage of shadow sneak there. Not many know its dual purpose."

"Most ghost types only use it as an attack, while a few use it as a teleport," Finn replied, "I just figured that the difference wasn't in the Pokémon, but in their mindset. After all, a Gallade can use it as a lesser teleport, but also as a shadow attack. Athena uses hers for teleportation most of the time, while my mother's Aegislash uses it mostly as an attack. Since two Pokémon of the same species use it differently, I figured out that you could use it as both."

"Very clever. As far as I can remember, only Mono has ever done that." Reaves nodded in approval. "That was when he challenged the previous ghost type gym leader. Some thirty years ago, if I remember correctly. Surprised the old man who had been the gym leader at the time, and boy was that a laugh."

"Well, I guess great minds think alike," Finn said, pleased.

"Yeah." Reaves shot a glance at Finn, his glass eyes revealing nothing. "I guess they do."

Reaves stopped at the entrance to the facility and raised his hatchet. With a powerful swing, he embedded it between the sliding doors, wedging them open by a small margin. The undead reached out and grabbed a door with either hand, then forced them open. He gave one last shove to make sure that they would stay, then stepped to one side. "After you."

Finn stepped into the building and looked around. It was clearly a high-tech facility, with a keypad on the inside of the door and electric blue lights set into the ceiling. "What is it with plasmas and blue lights…?"

"Design choice, most likely." Reaves stepped into the building.

"Or just an unhealthy obsession with 'the future'," Finn muttered.

"Entirely likely…" Reaves looked around, noting the branching hallway.

"So when will they realize that we've infiltrated their base?" Finn asked.

As if on cue, red lights lowed from the ceiling. A klaxon alarm began to echo through the building, and red lights swept over the hallway, all the while a computerized voice announced "intruder alert." The mechanized doors behind them slammed shut, and something told Finn that they wouldn't open to another well-placed war axe.

"Now, I would say." Reaves spun his hatchet, transforming it into a gilded axe once more. "You have any other Pokémon that could handle combat? I mean real combat, not Pokémon battles."

Finn considered for a bit. Nyx could probably handle actual fighting. Her claws were sharp enough to slice through tree trunks, her stinger could embed itself in stone, and her exoskeleton had proven itself to be enough to ward off stone edge. But she had adapted entirely to her new life as a Gliscor, and now she couldn't fight well in enclosed spaces.

Jitters was certainly a threat when it came to ranged combat, the Joltik being capable of discharging large amounts of electricity. Then there was the pin-missile cloud tactic that Finn had devised. But the pin-missiles would be little more than an irritation to a human being, and Jitters was only a Joltik. The Plasmas only needed to stomp down to put him out of commission.

Which left Belle…

"One." Finn grabbed his master ball.

"A master ball?" Reaves raised an eyebrow. "What have you got in there?"

"Someone who's been through a lot more than she lets on." Finn tossed the ball.

In truth, Belle was his best hope for true combat and Pokémon battling. She was probably strong enough to punch through steel, had proven that a gallon of Gliscor toxins couldn't even slow her, had powered through paralysis, and had access to moves that were beyond the reach of normal Machoke.

The musclebound humanoid appeared in a flash of light, her red eyes glancing at the surrounding environment.

Then her pupils dilated, and she punched through a wall.

"Belle! Belle! Calm down!" Finn frantically grabbed her arm as she began to hammer on the metal walls of the building.

Reaves moved faster than Finn thought possible, his axe lodging in the floor as he snatched both of Belle's wrists and held them away from the wall. It was truly terrifying how fast he moved, and the fact that he was holding Belle's arms immobile was incredible. "Calm down."

"She's ranting… about being 'back here', and how she was betrayed." Athena murmured.

That made more sense. Belle must've been experimented on by Team Plasma, hence the brand on her collarbone and odd features.

But what could they have done to her…?

"Belle." Finn placed a hand on the Machoke's shoulder, causing her to shoot a red-eyed glance at him. "We're here to take them down."

Belle glared at Finn for a few moments, then finally relaxed her stance. She was clearly still tense, but she wasn't panicking anymore, at the very least.

"Are you calm now?" Reaves asked, slowly letting go of Belle's wrists. After a moment, he turned around. "Okay, now that that's over with, let's go."

Reaves started off down the hallway, with Finn following close behind. Belle stared at the two for a moment, then followed them as well. There really wasn't much in the facility, until they came across the experimentation pods.

More like holding cells.

Finn looked at the glass viewing panels of the holding cells. Each cell had a heavily reinforced door with a hand scanner. Under the large glass windows were touchscreen interfaces, each currently offline. In addition, most of the cells were broken in some way. Holes in the floor, busted door locks, and sparking hand scanners all attested to the inhabitants breaking out.

Belle was staring at one of the holding cells with a mixture of anger and… fear.

Finn didn't know how to feel about that.

"Alright, I'll scout ahead and take out any security. You wait here," Reaves instructed, lifting his axe. Without another word, the undead walked out of the other end of the corridor.

Finn watched Reaves walk off, then glanced around the corridor again. Each and every cell was unusable for holding a living being in one way or another. From the holes in the walls and floor, to the completely useless locks. Clearly, something had done this. Or some things.

 _Bzzt. Bzzt. Plasma hardware detected. Please dock phone._

"What the…?" Finn pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. To his surprise, there was a red and blue image on the screen, and it was moving. Finn quickly began to type on the touchscreen, trying to activate the anti-virus software.

 _Bzz-shrrk-zzt_

A chat bubble appeared on the phone's screen, filling most of the top half of the screen.

P: Anti-virus disabled. Nice try.

"Well then…" Finn muttered, "A Porygon. Someone put a Porygon on my phone. Alright then…"

F: Who downloaded you to my phone?

P: Classified information.

Finn stared at the screen for a couple moments, then began to type again.

F: How about we make a deal?

P: Rejected.

F: You help me get into some of the Plasma information, and I'll let you go free.

P: Rejected.

F: I wonder what happens when you smash a device that a Porygon is in?

P: Logical fallacy.

F: And why is that?

P: Repair costs.

Finn chuckled. This Porygon was smart, but he was smarter.

F: I can get a new phone.

P: …

P: Reconsidering options.

P: Connect phone to Plasma docking station.

"That worked…" Finn plugged his phone into one of the touchscreens outside a holding cell. After a couple seconds, the Porygon's image vanished from his phone and appeared on the Plasma computer.

P: System unlocked. Pleasure doing business with you.

"Wait just a second." Finn quickly began typing on the touchscreen, but was answered before he could finish his message.

P: You have another query?

"Uh, yeah. Who put you on my phone, and why?"

P: My trainer does not tell his name to others often, and I am not at liberty to tell you. His primary duty is to gather intelligence, and that is what I have done. At the small cost of blocking incoming calls.

"So you blocked my…" Finn quickly snatched his phone back and began checking through his messages. He had thought it was weird that he hadn't received even a text message since Teret City, and now he knew why. "Home insurance, car insurance –who even owns a car?-, Mom worried about me since I fell into a coma. Wait a second. Missing Ralts…?"

 _Ding!_

Finn glanced back at the Plasma interface to find that the Porygon had vanished, and in its place was a solitary document. He debated what to do, then decided that he could come back to his phone at any time. The Plasma information was more important.

"Athena, let me know if Reaves gets back." Finn tapped the document, opening it.

 _Entry #001_

 _This is the first usage of the new hardware in a tainted environment. It seems to be in perfect working order._

 _Entry #002_

 _Thanks to the information provided by one of our agents, we have learned of the existence of a portal to the distortion realm. The portal is directly beneath Geistom town, and is the reason that the surrounding area appears so dead. The agent also reluctantly shared knowledge of undead, people who have had their life auras moved to an object that is then implanted in their body. If done properly, I believe that this could lead to true immortality._

 _I shall have to study auras more in order to gain clarity on the procedure._

 _Entry #003_

 _With the assistance of our agent, we have identified three distinct aura types._

 _Blue auras are the most common, and as far as we know, the most versatile. There are varying magnitudes of blue auras, but each is consistent. Blue auras are malleable and fuse easily with the auras of Pokémon, but the rate of fusion varies based upon the magnitude of the aura. Blue auras are also capable of manipulating the auras of less powerful blue auras, and can be used to manipulate reality in a manner different from psychic and ghost types._

 _Black auras are extremely rare. We know for a fact that they are necessary for the creation of a Spiritomb, but when in a living being the black aura is rigid. Black auras reject or absorb other auras, being vampiric in nature._

 _As far as we know, there is only one white aura. This aura belongs to N, the once-king of Team Plasma. There is a possibility that there are others with this aura, but they are far harder to find than those with black or blue auras._

 _Entry #004_

 _We've begun experimentation on Pokemon, to see if we can- {Entry Deleted}_

 _Entry #035_

 _The project has been ended, leaving us with only one project in the works: The creation of undead. We are starting with Pokémon, but the results have thus far been unsuccessful. Work has begun on the creation of a reversal mechanism._

"So they're trying to make undead?" Finn murmured to himself, realizing that he had reached the end of the document. He quickly exited out to see if there was more, only to find that the document locked itself the instant he did so. "Blast. Guess that's all I'm getting."

Finn looked around again, putting his phone in his pocket. "Alright, let's go see if Reaves has made any progress."

He started off, then turned to look at Belle. The Machoke was still staring at one of the holding cells, her hand flat against the reinforced window.

"Belle…? You okay?" Finn gently placed his hand on the Pokémon's arm, not trying to startle her.

Then, to the surprise of both Finn and Athena, she spoke a single word.

"Talos."

"What?" Finn asked in surprise.

"That was a word in English, Finn," Athena said, her eye wide, "She spoke a human word."

"Belle? Is there something wrong?" Finn asked again.

The Machoke shook her head, then grunted. It looked like she had returned to her normal, cold self.

But why had she spoken just one word, and how?

Belle was certainly far advanced past most Machoke, but even then she shouldn't have been able to speak. A Machoke's mouth structure and vocal cords couldn't produce human language. And yet Belle was able to speak this word.

Before Finn could ponder further, footsteps heralded the return of Reaves. The undead had a couple bullet holes in his body, but those were already closing themselves. "Alright, let's go."

"Reaves, you need to know something. I managed to get into their database, and they're experimenting with-," Finn hurriedly began.

"Undead. I know. Come with me," Reaves interrupted.

Finn gestured for Belle and Athena to follow, and trailed behind Reaves. What he saw was absolutely disgusting.

Reaves had led him to another corridor of holding cells, each one holding a Pokémon.

Each one was in a state of decay.

There were Rattata with most of their skin rotted off. Krookodile with bone exposed. There was a Scrafty lacking all of the muscle and flesh on one of its arms, and a large portion of its skull was clearly visible. But the worst was the Bulbasaur that had almost all of its skin, muscle, and flesh missing on its side, revealing its internal organs.

"I…" Finn could taste bile in the back of his mouth. "I need. Need to go…"

"You can leave. Don't worry about it. I'll handle this," Reaves assured, patting Finn's shoulder.

"Mhm…" Finn nodded, then ran off. He didn't stop until he reached the glass doors, then told Belle to punch them open. With fresh air in his lungs, Finn leaned over and placed his hands on his knees, his breathing heavy.

"Reaves… Reaves can handle it from here… right?" Finn murmured to himself.

"Don't worry Finn." Athena placed her sash on his shoulder. "He said we could leave."

"Okay then…" Finn took a deep breath. "Let's… let's go."

* * *

Reaves watched Finn leave, then sighed in relief. The undead walked up to one of the holding cell windows and shook his head. "Why?"

"For the sake of science."

"Cyril, this isn't science, it's random cruelty." Reaves turned and glared at the scientist.

"Science is learning, and look at this! This is learning!" The scientist gestured around at the holding cells. She sighed. "But then people like you have to show up and ruin it. Really? Recruiting a kid?"

"Recruiting a trainer," Reaves corrected, "In any case, this trainer has quite an impressive team, even if he isn't yet at his full potential."

"I saw subject #066." Cyril nodded, then scowled. "Now then, what are you going to do next?"

"Probably take care of your victims." Reaves gestured at the holding cells. "And make a phone call."

"Fine. I'm taking my stuff and leaving." Cyril turned and walked off angrily.

"Good riddance…" Reaves muttered, pulling a phone out of his pocket. He quickly dialed in the number, then held it up to his ear. "You were right."

"About the boy?"

"The boy, the labs, the subject, everything."

"That's unfortunate. So he can…?"

"Yes, he can talk with some of his Pokémon. His Honedge, at the very least."

"Hmm…"

"What should I do about the labs?"

"Show them mercy."

"Yes sir."

Reaves put his phone back in his pocket and grabbed his axe. With a mighty swing, he smashed the hand scanner and busted the door open. "May the release of death grant you swift travel to the Hall of Origin…" He raised his axe once more. "And may Arceus grant you another life."

The axe fell.

"Amen."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **We're taking a leave from the Geistom province now, but not everything is as it seems.**

 **Name origins:**

 **Reaves Tenant: Reaves Tenant, Reavestenant, Reavenant, Revenant. A revenant is an undead creature that has a specific purpose in its afterlife. In Reaves' case, defense of Geistom.**

 **Geistom: Geist + Phantom. Geist is a German word that means ghost or spirit, while a phantom is an insubstantial illusion.**

 **Cyril: Cyril is the name of a character from a very good Terraria webcomic. If you've already read that, sweet.**

 **Please, review and let me know what you think.**

 **Now read on!**


	19. Patience

Waiting.

Waiting is something nobody enjoys.

It may be painfully obvious, but nobody really gives a reason for it.

In some cases, it may simply be the suspense of waiting. Knowing that something is going to happen and you just want to get it over with. Sometimes it's dread, the feeling you get when you think things are going to become horrible. Or it could be the anticipation of something good coming up, and there's nothing you can do to make it happen faster.

In other cases, it's boredom.

Humans are so interesting. They have at their disposal the ability to create anything within the confines of their minds, and yet they still complain of having nothing to do. It's quite possible that in a world filled with innumerable intelligent creatures, humans alone would invent boredom. With incredible intellect, humans somehow manage to find nothing to do.

But perhaps boredom isn't alleviated by intellect.

Perhaps it's caused by it.

* * *

"So how long until we get there?" Nyx asked for the tenth time in as many minutes.

"We get there when we get there," Athena answered, again for the tenth time.

"Nyx, why don't you get an aerial view?" Finn suggested, trying to prevent conflict.

"Oh." Nyx stopped walking for a moment. "Why didn't I think of that?"

The Gliscor hopped over to a tree and climbed up, using her tail to launch even higher once she reached one of the upper branches. Her wing quickly caught the breeze, and Nyx was gliding off. She returned with a silent landing just moments later, then pointed with her claw. "It's about half a mile that way."

Finn frowned and looked down at his Pokédex. The map feature was clearly inaccurate, as it put Skolar City as several miles away, rather than just half a mile. The direction was entirely incorrect too.

"Thanks Nyx." Finn sighed and put his 'dex in his pocket. "I really need to get the map update. That Porygon blocking the signal really messed my devices up."

"Why did it even block the signal anyways?" Athena floated up next to Finn.

"Something to do with compatibility. Porygon is fine, Porygon2, the updated version, is even better. That one was a Z-model Porygon, which is basically what happens when you combine a computer virus with the world's best hacking system. Those things ruin everything they touch if it's not made with them in mind," Finn explained, pulling out his phone. "Although I am glad that the messages on my phone are available now."

"Why, exactly, do you know this?" Athena attached her sheath to Finn's bag strap and peeked over his shoulder.

"A Porygon Z hacked my mom's computer once. It didn't have much of a chance to do anything when Xollen plugged itself in. Turns out that a sentient supercomputer can overpower a living virus any day." Finn tapped the touchscreen a couple times, then huffed in irritation. "But that virus sure was annoying…"

In a matter of seconds, Finn pulled up his text messages. The voice mail had all been deleted by the Porygon, but the text messages were simply delayed. Unfortunately the sent date had also been deleted, which was confusing, but not impossible to figure out.

 _Aspen:_ Finn, heard you tried your hand against Ada. How'd it go?

 _Mom:_ Found your note, see you soon 3

 _Aspen:_ The Ralts from the last batch of Pokémon has escaped. If you find it, please send it back.

 _Aspen:_ Finn?

 _Aspen:_ Finn?

 _Aspen:_ If/when you can answer the phone, please let me know.

 _Mom:_ Finn, I heard about your episode, please tell me you're alright.

 _Mom:_ Finn, I'm on my way.

 _Mom:_ Finn?

 _Mom:_ Finn, if your phone is out of charge, please call me back as soon as you can. I arrived at Vernac to hear you had left.

 _Mom:_ Finn, are you ignoring me?

 _Mom:_ Mono called to let me know how you were doing. Is there a reason you haven't called me back?

"Oh… oh no…" Finn sighed, then began typing quickly, sending a message to both Aspen and his mother.

 _Finn:_ I'm so sorry, I had a Porygon hack my phone, and I couldn't receive any messages.

"Really, really hoping that's good enough…" Finn sighed again, then put his phone away.

Belle chose this moment to prod Finn in the back, giving him a look that said, far more clearly than words could, that she was annoyed with the delay. The Machoke pointed in the direction Nyx had pointed out, then pushed Finn towards it.

"Right, right. You're impatient." Finn adjusted his bag strap, then set off towards Skolar city.

As Finn was walking, a little red and grey bug shot across his path. The creature stopped for a fraction of a second, its yellow eyes frozen in fear, then it shot off again. The long spiky tail and the antennae being the only things to mark its trail through the underbrush. A beam of sunlight glinted off of the insect's exoskeleton as it ran off, giving the appearance of sparks shooting off of its shell.

Even though the creature only paused for a second, it still stopped suddenly enough to cause Finn to stumble and nearly trip over it. He quickly righted himself, then pulled out his Pokédex to scan the insect.

[Error. Species not available. Requesting update.]

"New species?" Finn muttered, putting his Pokédex back in his pocket as the Pokémon ran off. He glanced back up, tracking the long antennae through the grass, then shrugged. "Well, too late to catch it now."

Finn shook his head and continued to Skolar. As Nyx had predicted, it wasn't far at all, and he got there in the next ten minutes. Similar to Geistom, Skolar had a gate. Rather than the wrought-iron jaws that the residents of the ghost town, Skolar's gate was league regulation. With a checkpoint in the middle and automated doors on either end, the gate was more like a tunnel than a traditional gate.

The lady at the checkpoint counter called Finn over to check his trainer ID, then waved him through the gate. He glanced at the news channel that was running on the big screen in the gate, then stopped in surprise.

"That's right, the trade barriers on Alolan Pokémon have been lifted!" The anchorman said, gesturing to an image of a small reptile with a yellow crest on its head. "So Alolan Pokémon from all four islands have been imported to the Toreta region, to see how they adapt to this new environment. The Pokémon league of Toreta and the Kahuna representatives of Alola have come to the conclusion that the rare and dwindling species that are native to Alola would thrive in the Toretan environment."

"What kinds of Pokémon can we expect to see around, John?" The co-host asked, clearly scripted.

"Well Julie, almost every Pokémon from the Alola region is close to extinction. We won't be seeing many for the first couple months, but since they have no natural predators we're hoping that these poor Pokémon will grow in number." John gestured to the image of the reptile again. It began to add pictures of other Pokémon as the anchorman listed off names. "Jangmo-o, Wimpod, Mareanie, and Salandit, to name a few."

Finn stared at the picture of the Wimpod. That was certainly the Pokémon that had run across the path. The long antennae, the spiky tail, and the teardrop shape.

 _Ping!_

[Update complete]

"Well then…" Finn pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket.

[Toreta Pokédex V7.0. Thank you for using the Pokédex software. Alolan Pokemon added. Updated map. Updated Pokémon data. TM information updated.]

[Registering new Pokémon…]

[Wimpod]

[Turn Tail Pokémon]

[Type: Bug/Water]

[Ability: Wimp out. In situations where Wimpod is in danger, it will run. Almost nothing can stop this from happening.]

[Gender: Male]

[!SHINY!]

[Truly the bottom feeder of bug types, Wimpod will actively avoid contact with other living beings. These cowardly Pokémon often flail their legs fast enough to send dirt and sand flying in their wake. Wimpod rarely if ever kill their meals, instead feeding on the –often rotten- leftovers of other Pokémon.]

"So I missed out on a new, shiny Pokémon," Finn noted. He shrugged and put his Pokédex away, looking back at Nyx and Belle. Nyx was watching the television with an entranced gaze, and Belle was sulking in a corner. Jitters was still nestled in Finn's hair, using his head as a static generator. Athena was on his back, attached to the bag strap via a magnetic sheath mount.

In total, there was nothing he would want to change.

 _Thwack!_

"Ow!"

…Except Belle's violent mannerisms.

* * *

Since Belle had taken one man's inquisitive gaze as a personal insult, Finn had dragged her and his other Pokémon out of the gate. The Machoke still hated her Pokeball, so Finn had decided to just drag her along like a child. True, she was a good foot taller than he was, but she didn't resist him as he tugged her along.

They got to the gym quickly, locating the giant library that had been transformed into a Pokémon arena and puzzle. Library-goers could still avoid the Pokemon gym, but it took a good deal of practice to avoid it entirely.

The only setback was, well…

"What do you mean the gym leader's not here?" Finn asked desperately.

"I mean he isn't here," The woman at the registration counter replied, "Mr. Carsen is taking a visit to Alola, an archaeology trip. He's searching for information on the mythical 'Z-moves', and he should be back at the end of the month."

"So… no gym? For a month?" Finn deflated.

"I'm sorry young man, but that's that." The woman shrugged. "Go take a look through the city, we've got a lot of things here that you may want to check out."

"I'll… I'll think about it." Finn nodded and walked out of the library.

So… no gym battle for the next month. That kinda messed with Finn's plans. He had wanted to get to Skolar, battle Carsen, and leave for Vernac once more. Now, that wasn't an option. What was he supposed to do in the mean time? How was he supposed to pass the time?

After mulling it over for a moment, Finn clasped his hands together. "Alright!"

"Alright what?" Athena unsheathed herself a bit to speak directly in Finn's ear.

"Belle! Nyx!" Finn called out to his other two Pokémon. The Machoke was sitting on the stone wall next to the front staircase, periodically flicking the sphinx statue. Nyx, on the other hand, was up on top of the library and posing as a gargoyle.

At Finn's call, Nyx glided down from her perch and landed next to him. "What's up?"

"So, no gym battle for a while…" Finn began, "However, I have a plan for what we can do while we wait for the gym leader to return from Alola."

"And…?" Athena prodded.

"Let's go to the spa." Finn clapped his fingers together and began to walk through the streets.

"Spa?" Nyx queried, tilting her head.

"Yes, spa," Finn answered.

"So… no explanation?" Athena asked.

"You'll see." Finn started humming to himself as he walked through the streets.

Pokémon spas were far from uncommon. As a popular way of pampering a Pokémon, many rich patrons made the business lucrative. The masseuse needed to be skilled in the art too, with knowledge of how to pamper every species of Pokémon. Oftentimes Pokémon were employed as well, generally a fighting type to ease the tension of rock, steel, or other fighting types. A few more enterprising spa companies had the Pokémon massage human customers, as a massage given by a Machamp or an Infernape was almost always better than one given by a human.

Then there were the more shady businesses, but Finn didn't ever plan on going near _that_ kind of place.

In any event, finding the spa was easy. Skolar City was set on the gulf, meaning that they had direct access to the ocean and everything within. The only large building on the shore that wasn't a hotel or docking station was the spa, and finding the way to it through the twisting streets was a matter of Nyx relaying information.

Finn walked into the lavish building and looked around. The ornate Milotic design in the floor was made of shimmering scales, each one changing color as the light reflected off in different ways. The prism scale theme continued on the walls as well, detailing Staryu, Kingdra, and Gorebyss in coruscating beauty. It was blatantly obvious that this had taken a fortune to make, and Finn just happened to know where a good deal of that money had come from.

With a small grin to himself, Finn walked over to the reception counter and rang the bell, grabbing the attention of the receptionist on duty.

The young lady looked at him once and snorted in disgust. "If you're not a paying customer, please leave the premises."

"Maybe I should introduce myself." Finn pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket, pulling up his trainer ID. "I would like to talk to your manager."

"I already told you kid, if you're not a…" The lady started again, rolling her eyes. The instant her gaze landed on Finn's ID, however, her eyes widened and she quickly bowed her head. "I'm incredibly sorry sir, I didn't know it was you."

"Please, get your superior." Finn put on a disgruntled face.

The young woman quickly sped away, entering a back room marked 'Staff only'.

"What did you just do?" Athena asked.

"This spa, the Shining Scale Hotel and Resort, is currently self-sufficient." Finn gestured around, his upset façade vanishing. "But when they were trying to get the loan to start out, they went to one of the richest families in Toreta."

"Your family." Athena concluded.

"Yup." Finn whistled through his teeth, looking up at the Chandelure-shaped light fixture dangling from the ceiling. Even that was made out of prism scales. "Prism scales are expensive and rare, but only because Milotic are. But when a Milotic sheds its skin…" Finn whistled for real. "There are hundreds of people who're out to buy them. 'Course, Dad doesn't usually sell the scales, he gives them to Aspen, who then distributes them across the region. In this particular case, though, a man who wanted to open a spa came begging for scales. Giving out prism scales is basically the same thing as handing out ten thousand Poké per scale. Mr. Lawrence was fortunate enough to get a whole skin's worth. He still hasn't payed Dad back, though."

"So you're guilt-tripping them," Athena said, disdain dripping off of her voice.

"First, no. I'll pay the full price. Second, Lawrence is a horrible, horrible man. Dad didn't want to give him the skin at first, but he had so many to spare since Miles was molting like crazy that month," Finn explained, "That lady won't get fired for this, I won't tell Lawrence anything. She will, however, treat others with a bit more respect."

"That's… actually really clever," The Honedge admitted, "So you're not just using your status to push people around?"

"No, then I'd be worse than Darrell. He doesn't have status, and he still acts superior to others. I just want to scare Lawrence a bit." Finn grinned.

It only took a moment more for the receptionist to return, this time with a pompous looking man following behind her. The man's hair was cut short, and what little there was he had combed close to his head. His shifty blue eyes never seemed to lock on to any one thing, until they found Finn.

"Hello, young master Ferris! How may I help you this fine day?" The man rubbed his hands together nervously.

Finn took a moment to take in Lawrence's expensive suit, then smiled. "Yes, I was hoping to book a stay."

"For you, or your Pokémon?" Lawrence smiled, but it wasn't a smile with any emotion behind it.

"Just my Pokémon, please." Finn knew that this was the option that Lawrence would feel more comfortable with, seeing as the man owed a considerable sum to Finn's family. Nonetheless, that was all Finn was here for.

"And how many Pokémon would that be?" Lawrence took out a notepad and a pen.

"Four. A Honedge, a Gliscor, a Joltik, and a Machoke." Finn gestured to Nyx and Belle, then removed Jitters from his head. Athena took that as her cue to remove her sheath from Finn's bag strap, and floated next to him.

The spa owner looked at all of Finn's Pokémon, then back at Finn. "How long will your Pokemon be staying?"

"One week." Finn answered curtly, plugging his Pokédex into the transaction machine.

"Please, young master Ferris, this is on the house," Lawrence tried to protest.

"No, no. I insist." Finn smiled inwardly, watching Lawrence squirm uncomfortably. There was no doubt in his mind that the miserly man wanted to shave a bit off of the debt he owed, but Finn wasn't going to let him off that easily.

"Very well then, sir. Will that be all?" Lawrence asked with a strained smile.

"Yes, thank you." Finn grabbed his Pokédex again, tucking it into his pocket.

On his way out, he raised his right hand. "I'll be back at the end of the week."

Lawrence looked at Finn and gulped, taking particular note of the winding scar on Finn's right arm. "Right. Right you are sir."

* * *

With the changes that were made to the laws regarding Alolan Pokémon, Finn was taking his alone time as a chance to do some research.

For example, he learned about the bizarre effects of Shiinotic's spores, and how they could hypnotize someone into sleeping indefinitely. Conversely, the mushroom atop Shiinotic's head secreted a toxin that, when refined properly, woke people from comas. If refined incorrectly, all number of negative effects were possible.

Another case of Alolan Pokémon being unique lay in the regional variants there. Muk from Alola had no stench, and in fact smelled rather nice. Yet a single touch from its amorphous body and you could kiss your health goodbye.

Finn was reading about the oddities of Salandit when he realized with a start that he had a full week to himself. He didn't have to sharpen Athena's blade, didn't need to clean Jitters' fuzz or Nyx's carapace, and most importantly didn't need to keep Belle from picking fights.

He felt… bored.

There was nothing to do, nobody to tend to, and no real plan in mind.

For once, Finn was aimless.

Even before he found Athena, Finn had been planning and preparing for each and every gym battle. He knew every detail about gym layouts, every single type and the matchups that would work, and every route in Toreta was placed on a very specific mental map. Back when he was little there was always Sparks to take care of or play with, some tangle in the Riolu's fur to comb out.

Now, there was nothing.

Relaxation was for people who didn't have a grand goal in mind. People who had completed their work. And especially for people who had better things they could be doing.

Which was exactly why Finn was restless.

It was also why he put down his book on Alola Pokémon, stood up, grabbed his bag, and walked outside.

Finn wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do, but walking around was better than just sitting in his room and doing basically nothing. Besides, Skolar had many interesting things to see. There was an old aircraft carrier that had been transformed into a museum, a full-on aquarium filled with all kinds of water types, and all sorts of amusement parks.

But he could frankly care less about that. Instead he was going to the beach.

Not for the reasons that most people went to the beach, mind you. It wasn't to relax, or to ogle at the bikini-clad women, or even to breathe in the salty air. He could care less about the sunlight bathing his skin, and the fine sand that was beneath his feet.

Instead, Finn was watching the water types swim through the water.

It was rather interesting, the fact that water type Pokémon gathered near land masses. Sure, some avoided land if at all possible, like Relicanth and Cradily, but almost every other water type preferred the shelter of land-masses.

Including, it seemed, Corsola.

The shore that Finn had managed to locate was bare of humans, sure, but it was almost overcrowded when it came to Corsola. The things were overpopulated in Toreta, almost to the point of being pests. The problem was that there really weren't any Pokémon that preyed upon Corsola, or none that were native to Toreta. Some parts of the gulf were completely uninhabitable to the coral Pokemon, but the density of their population in other areas was a major problem.

Finn walked closer to the crowd of Corsola, carefully avoiding the Shellder that were dotting the sand. He quickly made his way to a clear patch of sand and watched the Corsola milling around him. Finn pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket and scanned the pink Pokémon.

[Palossand]

[Sand Castle Pokémon]

[Type: Ghost/Ground]

[Ability: Water Compaction. Water type attacks used on this Pokémon make it sturdier.]

[Gender: Female]

[The scourge of the beaches in Alola, Palossand are capable of taking over human beings and forcing them to add mass to its body. It uses the shovel sticking out of its head as an antennae to detect nearby lifeforms. While it can move, it often does not, collecting whole skeletons beneath its sand-based mass.]

"What?" Finn muttered, tapping the Pokédex. "What Palossand?"

That was when he noticed the shovel slowly rotating in the sand next to his feet.

"Well crap."

Finn used the few seconds it took for the Palossand to awake as a chance to get away. The sand beneath him began to flow downwards as crenellated towers started to rise. In seconds, a giant sand castle had risen out of the beach, its bulk just a little bit shorter than Finn's height. Two glowing lights appeared in the windows of the sand castle, looking balefully at Finn as the castle emitted a low moan.

All of the Corsola on the beach cried out in panic and began to surge away from the sand-based ghost. The Palossand just moaned again and sank back into the sand, leaving nothing but its shovel and shells visible.

"What the heck is going on?" Finn asked nobody in particular.

The chaos didn't stop there, as the Corsola began to enter the water in their panic. The seaweed growing out of the bay began to writhe as if possessed, snatching the Corsola as they passed and dragging them into the seaweed beds. Little bits of coral floated up from this carnage, evidence of the fact that _something_ had killed the Corsola.

Which was when a strange purple and blue creature waddled out of the ocean. With what looked like hair dangling from the top of its head, it was quite clear that it was covered in spikes, bits of the possessed seaweed sliding off and returning back to the ocean.

The purple Pokemon immediately went into action, waddling over to one of the Corsola and wrapping several tendrils of spiky 'hair' around the coral Pokémon. Spikes shot into the Corsola's side, and it let out a cry of pain and dismay.

Finn couldn't take it anymore, and before he knew it there was a Pokéball soaring through the air at the spiky creature.

 _Bshh-zwip!_

 _Wobble…_

 _Wobble…_

 _Wobble…_

 _Click!_

Finn blinked. "Did I just catch that thing?"

The freed Corsola squealed in pain, probably suffering from some poison, and hobbled off. Its wounds healed in seconds, and the Corsola swam away quickly. Finn slowly walked over to the Pokéball, looking around at the now vacant beach. In the aftermath of the chaos, there were bits of pink coral floating in the ocean, and occasionally a bit of seaweed would snatch a chunk and pull it into the dark area beneath the surface.

"I…" Finn glanced around. First the Palossand, next the haunted seaweed, and now he had accidentally caught a new Pokémon.

"That's enough time at the beach…"

* * *

This was hell.

This was literal hell.

No free reign over her own activities, nowhere to train, and worst of all there was a dopey Machamp following her around with puppy eyes.

For Bellona, the Machoke once known as #066, going to a spa was not enjoyable. In fact, all the schedules and invasion of personal space reminded her of the time when she was sealed in a sterile white box, with only a window to see anything new.

Now, she was stuck without either of the only two humans she trusted. The Boy and The Scientist. The Boy was nice enough, even if they had gotten off to a rough start. She might even grow to like him, given more time. Still, he smelled a bit… off. He gave off a vibe that would have caused her to be scared, had most of the horrible Labcoats been different. But he was so much nicer than the Labcoats. Even ignoring the, well, aura of darkness, The Boy smelled sick. He always took pills in the morning that made the smell lessen, but it didn't go away entirely.

The Scientist had been the sole reason she hadn't gone mad while stuck in that white box. Even though he looked similar to the other Labcoats, especially that mean woman with the mechanical hand, the silly little ribbon in his hair made him easy to pick out. That and his golden eyes. The Scientist had been the only one to treat her like a living being rather than an object. He had also been the only one to recognize her human-like intelligence. The Scientist had tried to teach her how to speak Human.

It was rather amusing. The two humans she trusted in any measure were both males.

Belle hated males.

Oh, Jitters was alright. The little fellow barely spoke, and he was very sweet. The Boy was tolerable, at the very least. But the other males she had encountered? They were usually garbage.

There was one particularly cruel man back when she was in the white box. His hair was green, and he always limped along on a cane. He smelled like death, or more specifically like death come to claim souls. He had stabbed Belle on more than one occasion, to 'test her'.

She would gladly cave that man's face in.

Then there was her ordeal _after_ escaping the white box…

But for now the main issue was the Machamp that trailed behind her at all times. Him and his greasy trainer.

Said trainer was actively avoiding her after what she had done to his pretty floors. She couldn't understand how the Machamp put up with the sharp scales poking his feet. Then again, the brute was wearing sandals, as well as a suit and actual pants. Needless to say, Belle didn't wear shoes, so she decided to level the floor.

That greasy man was really rude, but not to Belle. He would get angry at Jitters and Nyx most often, and very rarely at Athena. Both of the exoskeletals wouldn't fight back, of course. They were too docile to do that. Athena, though, was the embodiment of war whenever she was around him as he insulted the others. It was rather touching, really.

The look on the man's face was amusing too. He always turned a white color and squealed when Athena unsheathed herself.

Of course, he quickly learned not to do anything to either the Gliscor or the Joltik after that. Not while Athena was watching.

In any event, Belle had finally located the one place where she could actually entertain herself. A private little gym area that had all manner of exercise equipment.

Before long, Belle had set up a barbell with well over five hundred pounds, and was pressing it with one hand. It was a shame that there weren't any heavier weights in this gym, but she couldn't really complain. Even a minor workout was better than none.

…Until that meatheaded moron walked in and politely asked her to leave the gym area.

Needless to say, Belle wasn't happy about being told what to do, especially by a male, and even more especially by a Machamp. With the barbell resting in her hand, she stood up and walked over to the Machamp, her height allowing her to look him straight in the eye.

Then she punched him.

As the Machamp fell to the floor unconscious, Belle grinned. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

[Mareanie]

[Brutal Star Pokémon]

[Type: Poison/Water]

[!HIDDEN! Ability: Regenerator. This Pokémon heals naturally at an incredible rate, allowing it to steadily heal even while in battle. Even being out of battle for a short time allows it to recover from most injuries.]

[Gender: Male]

[Mareanie are well known to be violent creatures. They take delight in torturing and eating Corsola, although the Corsola often manages to survive with only the coral atop its head consumed. The spike atop a Mareanie's head is filled with a debilitating toxin, and it possesses an incredible strength for its diminutive size.]

"Nasty little bugger, aren't you?" Finn asked the Mareanie who was sitting atop the bedside table in his hotel room.

The Mareanie looked up from its jar of peanut butter and trilled happily, a mischievous smile on its face. He buried his face in the peanut butter once more, using his tentacles to clean the jar out entirely.

"At least you're happy enough to subsist on peanut butter…" Finn turned back to his computer, looking at the page on Alolan sea life. "Bruxish, no. Wishiwashi, no. What the heck is a 'Pyukumuku'?"

"Not tasty."

Finn quickly whirled in his seat, looking back at the starfish creature eating peanut butter. "Did you just talk?"

"No," The Mareanie answered, digging out the last of the peanut butter. He licked it off of the tentacle then quested about for more, slowly pulling the jar apart in the process. "Unless saying yes will get me more peanut butter."

"In this case…" Finn stood up and walked over to his bag, pulling out another jar of peanut butter. "It will."

"Free food?" The poison type's eyes widened. "Awesome."

"Not free," Finn corrected, "In exchange for information."

The Mareanie looked up at Finn and narrowed his eyes. "Fine."

"Just tell me what a Pyukumuku is." Finn sighed.

"Nasty little sea cucumbers. They spew their guts all over predators." The Mareanie shuddered. "It's not fun. Can I have the peanut butter now?"

Finn thought for a moment, then shrugged. He tossed the jar to the poison type, who caught it with a couple tentacles and started to tear the top off. In moments he had covered most of his tentacles in peanut butter, and was happily licking it off.

But that left Finn pondering. How was it that he could already understand this little creature, when Jitters still made unintelligible trills most of the time. From what he could tell thus far, it had something to do with whether or not the Pokémon considered him a friend. At least, that was how it worked with Nyx, as far as he could tell.

"Hey, um, Mareanie." Finn sat back down in his swivel chair, looking at the page on Alolan sea life again. "What do you consider me as?"

"Uh." The Mareanie leaned back from his meal. "A human? Free food source?"

"I mean, like…" Finn paused, trying to figure out how to phrase it. "Do you consider me a friend?"

"Hmm…" The Pokemon absentmindedly started to widen the opening of the jar of peanut butter. "Well, you give me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Does that answer satisfy you?"

"Please be serious…" Finn sighed.

"Then in that case…" The Mareanie took a deep breath. "Don't think I'm weird, but there's an aura around you that I find… calming. It reminds me of home, in the Dhelmise patches. Just… the sense of impending death and destruction. That, and you give me free food."

"That's… very interesting." Finn turned his chair to face the screen, his eyes scanning the page but his mind not registering it.

So, his dark aura made the 'Brutal Star' Pokémon feel at home? Well, the creatures had a reputation for cruelty, and they literally ate many other species of Pokémon. It had been somewhat similar with the Spiritomb, hadn't it? The more malicious Pokémon were attracted to his aura, and vice-versa.

"You need a name," Finn muttered, scrolling through to the entry on Mareanie. Most of the information inside was stuff he already knew, but what was interesting to him was the evolution of the poison type. Toxapex, it was called.

"How about Thrasher? Slayer? Bonecrusher!" The Pokémon suggested.

"Peanut butter crusher…" Finn shook his head, looking at the picture of a Toxapex. "How about… Bastion."

"Bastion? Really?" The newly named Bastion waddled over to the edge of the table and hopped off.

"As in a line of defense," Finn explained, pulling up the image of the Toxapex.

The Mareanie waddled across the floor to Finn's chair, where he reached down and lifted the creature up to see the screen. Bastion squinted his eyes at his evolved form. "Gotta say, can't argue with that."

"Glad you agree." Finn set the Pokémon down on his desk.

"Still, Bonecrusher would be fucking awesome," Bastion happily continued.

"…We're going to have to work on your language…" Finn sighed.

* * *

Before Finn knew it, the week was up. A lady from the Shining Scale Hotel and Resort called his cell phone and informed him that 'His Pokemon were ready to be picked up'.

By Finn's estimation, they were probably getting very desperate to get rid of Finn's Pokémon. Belle was almost certainly being a major problem to Lawrence and his Machamp. Finn rarely disliked a Pokémon, but that Machamp was just as randomly cruel and petty as his trainer.

Whistling, Finn grabbed his bag and stood up. "Come on Bastion, I have to introduce you to the team."

"Oh joy. I get to meet the fun people." Bastion slowly waddled over to Finn, who picked the Mareanie up.

Setting Bastion on his shoulder, Finn chuckled. "If you consider Athena as fun by your definitions, I'll give you a medal."

"You're fu-," The Pokémon began, only to stop as he noted Finn's glare. "Right. Language. You're screwing with me, right?"

"Not entirely." Finn grinned. He started off, making sure to walk at a pace that allowed Bastion to remain on his shoulder. "If you do find Athena fun, you'll certainly get rewarded."

"So, Athena. Hot chick?" Bastion asked crudely.

"Haunted sword," Finn answered, "Are you going to ask questions like this all the time?"

"Are you going to be boring all the time?" Bastion shot back.

"Only in your eyes." Finn shook his head, chuckling. "Just don't mess with Belle, don't scare Jitters, and keep your language PG."

"I do whatever I damn well please!" Bastion asserted, straightening his small body.

"In that case, you can walk." Finn grabbed the Mareanie and lowered him to the ground.

"Hey! Pick me back up or I'll break your legs!" Bastion protested, waddling after Finn.

Finn smiled, keeping his face hidden from the diminutive Pokémon. "And how long would that take you?"

Bastion stopped in place, considering the question. "Okay, maybe it would take half an hour, but I could crush your bones to dust."

"I'm so terrified," Finn deadpanned, turning around and picking Bastion up again. "In any case, we're almost to our destination."

"And what is our destination, exactly?"

"A spa."

"Aw, why didn't I get to go?"

"Bastion." Finn sighed.

"What?"

"I dropped the others off _before_ I caught you." Finn said slowly. After all, it was the third time he had done so in the past week. The Mareanie didn't seem to get the point.

"And?" Bastion prodded.

"And I can't time travel. I'm not a Celebi, you're not a Celebi, and I doubt either of us knows Dialga." Finn shook his head.

"I might," Bastion protested.

"Do you?"

"No." The Pokémon deflated.

"Then you should probably accept that fact." Finn shrugged. "We're here, anyways."

Both Finn and Bastion looked up at the towering building. Finn quickly noted the solitary broken window six stories up, and grinned.

"So, uh. Nice place?" Bastion said.

"Not really. The owner's a jerk," Finn replied, setting Bastion down. "Stay here."

While Bastion sulked on the staircase outside, Finn walked into the building. The first thing he noted was the Milotic pattern on the floor. Or rather, the fact that the scales had all been sheared flat as if someone had run a high-power lawnmower over it. There were holes in the walls everywhere, and the chandelier had a gaping hole in it.

Looked like he had predicted Belle perfectly.

The receptionist was the same lady who had been there when Finn first visited the hotel and resort, albeit much worse for wear. She gave Finn a desperate look. "H-hello sir. P-please take your Pokémon and go."

As if on cue, Lawrence walked into the main lobby area with all four of Finn's Pokémon following close behind.

"Finn!"

Nyx launched herself into the air, careening towards Finn. Finn quickly set his stance, and managed to catch Nyx before she knocked him over. "Miss me?"

"Yes, she did," Athena answered for the Gliscor, floating over next to Finn. Jitters was sitting atop her pommel, knocking her slightly off-balance.

"Alright everyone, let's go." Finn nodded at Belle in greeting, and was mildly surprised to see that she nodded back. It seemed that she had become more likely to tolerate him after her stay here.

Finn set off with his Pokémon in tow, waving at Lawrence over his shoulder again. As soon as they were out of the door, he turned to Athena. "So, two questions. One, why is Jitters on your… head?"

"Balance training. There wasn't much else to do," Athena replied.

"Okay, second question. How was your trip?"

Both Nyx and Athena answered simultaneously, with Belle grunting in agreement. "Horrible."

"Gotta say, kinda expected that." Finn shrugged.

"Why do you hate that man so much?" Athena asked.

"Well-," Finn began, only to be cut off by a cry from the front door of the hotel.

The burly Machamp that Finn knew belonged to Lawrence ran out of the hotel, holding a box in his lower set of arms. He rushed up to Belle, then got down on his knees and proffered the box forward, opening it. The gigantic gemstone inside glimmered as the sunlight shined on it.

"Seems someone's made an impression," Finn muttered.

Belle raised her hands to her face, hiding her expression. After a moment, she lowered her hands and rested them on the Machamp's biceps, gently pulling him back into a standing position. Belle smiled gently, then raised her knee so fast that the Machamp lifted a couple inches off of the ground.

Then, the male slowly toppled to the side.

Belle then turned back around, facing towards Finn once more. She looked at the shocked expression on Nyx's face, and shrugged.

"He was proposing to you! Why'd you do that?" Nyx protested.

The Machoke just grunted, kicking the box with the gemstone to the side.

"Can't argue with that." Finn shrugged. "Anyways, I've told you all about Sparks, right?"

"Uh-huh." Nyx nodded.

"Lawrence kicked him," Finn said, growing angry, "And while he was abusing my Pokemon, his Machamp was finding it amusing to test my paralysis. Broke my arm."

"Now I don't feel as bad about Belle rejecting him so harshly," Nyx admitted.

"With all that over with…" Finn looked around, eventually spotting his target. He grinned and walked over, looking down at the creature he was seeking out. "Bastion, what are you doing?"

The Mareanie looked up at him and scowled. "How'd you find me?"

"Your spike." Finn reached down and picked the poison type up, placing the Pokémon on his shoulder. "Everyone, meet Bastion. He'll be the sixth and most obnoxious member of our group."

"I resemble that statement!" Bastion protested, only to pause and rethink his words. "Actually. Yeah. That."

"Great. Just what we needed," Athena noted dryly, "Now we need an emo psychic type."

"I didn't know that ghost types came in the BOOORIIING variety," Bastion sneered. He glanced at the others of the group, his gaze settling on Belle. "And what's up with you, sweetcheeks?"

In response, the Machoke launched a punch, smacking Bastion hard enough to cause his head to rock backwards like a bobble-head.

Bastion just grinned, spitting out a sharp tooth. "Wow, so violence _and_ attractiveness. The whole package!"

Belle just glared at the Mareanie for a moment, then smacked him again. After watching him recover after only a few moments, she crossed her arms and huffed.

"You'll get used to him eventually," Finn placated, shrugging, "I did."

"So who's Sparks?" Bastion asked, his battered and bruised face almost back to its normal shape already.

"This may take a while to explain…"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So, it's been a while since I posted a chapter. I blame it on life first, then writer's block second, and lastly on my need to become the greatest trainer in Alola. I'm not going to spoil it, but I will say that I love the direction that GameFreak took.**

 **As for Bastion, his name literally means a bastion, as in a line of defense. If you've played Overwatch, you can expect this Bastion to be as annoying as the one in the game, and far less kind to nature.**

 **I know a lot of people dislike Toxapex for its absurd tankiness, but in my playthrough of Moon version I grew attached to the little bugger. Mine, an impish female named Shelly, practically carried me through the 'final boss' of the story. Again, no spoilers for that here.**

 **For anyone wondering about the haunted seaweed, that is my take on the new Pokémon Dhelmise. While the ingame Pokémon has an anchor and a ship's wheel, the Pokédex says that Dhelmise is just the seaweed on the anchor. So now we have murderous seaweed to add to the list of things to avoid in the Pokémon world, along with sand castles and ice-cream.**

 **No name origins besides Bastion, and I already said that one.**

 **As always, please leave a review to let me know what you think.**

 **Now read on!**


	20. Intellect

There is a saying.

Knowledge is power.

Everyone knows this saying, as well as the meaning behind it. It doesn't matter how strong, fast, or otherwise powerful you are; the combatant who knows more about their foe will almost always win. A strong foe can be easily toppled and knocked off balance. Speedy opponents sacrifice mass for their agility, and if you can remove speed as an advantage then you win immediately. Psychics lose to dark types, aura users cannot harm ghosts, and fairies can't attempt to touch processed materials.

But there are so many nuances to knowledge. Knowing that Nosepass always faces north, that Bounsweet are always female, and that grass types are immune to spore-based moves can all make a major difference in battle. You can attack the Nosepass from behind, use attract on Bounsweet, and avoid using spore on grass types.

Every aspect of Pokémon battling could easily be won with the correct information. Type advantage, move nuances, and even individual Pokémon strengths are important to battling.

Or you could take it literally.

…Psychic type cheaters…

* * *

"Ninety-nine bottles of pop on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of pop! Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of pop on the wall!"

"By Arceus, do you _ever_ shut up?" Athena practically exploded.

"Lemme think about that." Bastion tilted his head as if in thought. "Uh, no. Ninety-eight bottles of pop on the wall, ninety-eight bottles of-!"

"Okay, that's more than enough…" Finn lifted a Pokéball, recalling the Mareanie. "Four hours straight of 'nine hundred ninety-nine bottles of pop' is way too long."

"Should've stopped him earlier…" Athena grumbled.

"I thought he would shut up after you beheaded him, but he just regenerated and started again once his head grew back…"

"Should've recalled him right then," Athena complained.

"Yes, but then Belle punched him out." Finn sighed, looking around the room.

Nyx had commandeered the television, changing the channel to a cooking show. She was raptly watching the show host mix ingredients in a controlled environment, her yellow eyes watching every single movement.

Belle was in the corner, sulking again. The instant Finn recalled Bastion she huffed in relief, her tense attitude dissolving.

Jitters was somewhere, either in Finn's messily made-up bed collecting static or drinking electricity straight from a socket.

Finn turned back to look at his computer screen. He was researching psychic types so that he could hopefully get an edge on the gym, but he had absolutely no clue what Pokémon Carsen had. Heck, he didn't even know what the gym challenge was, since people had reported different ones each time. It was like the library was alive and moving.

"Alright, let's go." Finn stood up and grabbed his bag. "We have a gym to get to."

"About time." Athena attached herself to his bag strap.

Belle straightened, a look of indecision on her face. Finn shrugged. "You can stay here. Psychics are a challenge for any fighting type, and I know you don't trust me yet. Relax. Bastion'll be with me, in his Pokéball."

After a moment of thought, Belle nodded.

"Alright then. Nyx, turn the television off. We're going. Where's Jitters?"

Nyx looked up from her television show, tapping the off button on the remote. She quickly walked over to the bed and pulled all of the covers off, revealing a sleeping Jitters. Nyx quickly scooped the Joltik up. "Okay, ready!"

"Then we're off." Finn nodded at Belle. "We'll be back in maybe a couple hours. Please don't hurt anyone."

The Machoke grunted noncommittedly.

"Well, I tried." Finn shrugged and walked out of the room, Nyx trailing behind him.

Finn quickly made his way out of the Pokémon center, waving at the Nurse Joy on his way out. Even though it had been about a month since he had been there last, Finn still remembered exactly where the gym was. It was hard not to, really. The largest library in the region wasn't exactly easy to forget about.

Just before he entered the library, Finn recalled his Pokémon in standard gym procedure. The gym leader rarely wanted to know what the challenger's Pokémon were before the battle, as that took most of the challenge out of it.

With a million possibilities running through his mind, Finn stepped up to the reception counter. "Hello? I'm here about that reservation I made a couple weeks ago."

The receptionist looked up from her computer and smiled warmly. "Best of luck to you then, Mister Ferris. You can find the gym challenge by browsing the Library, it'll know what you're here for."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Finn asked.

"You'll see." The receptionist looked back at her computer, typing something on the keyboard.

Finn just shrugged and walked farther into the library. He had no idea how he was supposed to locate the part that started the gym challenge, but the whole place felt slightly… off. Like there was someone watching him at all times, examining his every movement as he walked between the shelves. It was very different from the ghost types watching him in the cursed grove. That had been pretty unnoticeable, actually. This was… different. Intrusive.

Like someone was trying to invade his mind.

It wasn't too different from the telepathic communication that Rath and Xollen partook in, but much more invasive. Telepathy as a method of communication was on both sides, both reaching out and trying to understand. This was a one sided mind reading.

After a few moments, the pressure on his mind stopped entirely. The only aftereffect was a mild headache, and the feeling that someone had just tried and failed to steal something from him.

Then the bookshelf in front of him slid open slowly, the Pokémon League logo set into the revealed doorway.

"Well that happened…" Finn muttered, slowly walking into the doorway.

The scene beyond was fascinating. Ancient relics and artifacts on pedestals, rows upon rows of bookshelves, and a high-arched ceiling that couldn't possibly fit inside of the building. Finn reverentially walked down the main aisle, looking at the relics on display.

"I see you're admiring the Library's collection."

Finn whirled to see a middle-aged man walking into the large room, a rather dorky and outdated outfit adorning his gawky frame. He pulled an old-fashioned pocket watch out of the front pocket of his waistcoat, checking the time quickly before replacing it. As the man drew closer, Finn saw his unkempt hair and rapidly moving eyes. There was no doubt that this man was analyzing Finn even closer than Finn was analyzing him.

"Let's see. Clothes are high-quality but casual. Your bag is clearly the most powerful model of the Bottomless BagTM, or at least the best model that was available a couple years ago. Based off of your rather unkempt appearance, I'd say that you're a Pokémon trainer - but then you'd have to be otherwise the Library wouldn't let you in – and the wear on your hands suggests that you are right handed, but I assume you're actually a lefty because of the fact that your right remains stationary while your left is unconsciously reaching for a Pokéball. This, along with your black hair, hazel eyes, unimpressive physique, and the winding scar on your right arm…" The man stopped, finally taking a breath. "A pleasure to meet you, Finnegan Ferris."

"You didn't have to look at me at all to know who I was." Finn crossed his arms, a grin on his face. "You looked at my application for a gym battle and then made all that up so that you seem smart."

The man deflated. "Nobody has faith in the art of observation anymore."

"No, I just take everything with a grain of salt." Finn shrugged. "And the whole Sherlock Holmes examining thing? Impressive, but unreliable. I'm right about the application, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are." The gym leader huffed, "But! I would've been correct in my analysis! You're the only known person to have survived having a Honedge sash wrapped around their arm."

"I'm assuming, based on the fact that you're the only person here with me, and I'm the challenger, that you're the gym leader." Finn stuck his arm out to shake. "Nice to meet you at last, Mr. Carsen."

Carsen grinned dorkily and took his hand, shaking it enthusiastically. "I've heard quite a lot about you. Is it true that you can sword fight with your Honedge? Does your Gliscor really know how to cook? Where did that Machoke come from, and did it kill anyone? Oh! Have you actually commanded the respect of a powerful Gallade?"

"Um. Yes, yes, I have absolutely no idea, and no," Finn answered, trying to wrench his hand out of Carsen's grip. "So, what's the gym challenge?"

"Oh!" Carsen let go, putting his hands on his temples. "Gym challenge, gym challenge… Didn't the Library challenge you on the way in?"

"Why do you keep doing that?" Finn asked.

"Doing what?" Carsen raised an eyebrow.

"You keep saying the library funny."

"It's the Library."

"You did it again!"

"I really have no idea what you're talking about," Carsen protested, incredibly confused, "But did the Library challenge you on the way in? Did it send you through the shelves to locate specific information?"

"No," Finn muttered, still a little irritated at the strange way Carsen said library. It was as if he said it as a name.

"That's odd…" Carsen tapped his chin, pacing around. "Why didn't you test him? Does he know everything you could teach him? Probably not, actually. But why…?"

"Um. Mr. Carsen…?" Finn tentatively began. "Why are you talking to yourself?"

"I'm not talking to myself I'm talking to the Li-," Carsen suddenly stopped, looking at Finn and pointing. "The Library can't get into your mind. That's it, isn't it? It can't learn what you don't know, so it sent you straight to me." Carsen looked up and started shouting. "I see what you're doing here!"

Finn, mildly concerned about the man's sanity, took a step back.

"Well alright then! Let's battle, you and me! Mano y mano!" Carsen reached into his pocket, pulling out a Pokéball. "Are you ready for this?"

"…maybe…?" Finn grabbed his own Pokéball.

"Merlin!" Carsen tossed the Pokéball, releasing a yellow-skinned creature that Finn immediately recognized as a Kadabra.

"Nyx." Finn deployed his Pokémon, the Gliscor rising up on her tail immediately.

"Alright then Merlin, start with future sight." Carsen commanded, pointing at Nyx.

The Kadabra raised his spoon, waggling the fingers of his other hand around it. Then, in a comedic action reminiscent of a child flinging food, he grabbed the end of the spoon and pulled back, as if using it as a slingshot. Finn could swear that there was nothing in the spoon to be launched, but there was clearly something that left it as soon as the Kadabra let go.

Meanwhile, Nyx was hopping all over the battlefield in an odd and erratic motion. It was so strange to see a Gliscor, a creature renowned for their ability to smoothly glide through the air with only a breeze, jumping around as if on a pogo stick.

Then there were dozens of Nyxes, all hopping around in that same unpredictable motion. It was impossible to track any of them, because they could easily swap places ten times before even touching the ground. Finn's unorthodox tactics had spawned yet another oddity.

"Well done! Well done!" Carsen laughed, clapping. "When the going gets tough, the tough get weird!"

"Um. Okay…?" Finn muttered. "Nyx, keep using double team. We don't want that future sight hitting you head-on."

Nyx complied happily, continuing to bounce all around the battle field in the most erratic sequence she could. It didn't take long for the copies to surround Merlin, causing the Kadabra to wildly look around at each Gliscor. With panicked motions, he started firing off psybeams in every direction, trying and failing to hit the real Nyx and often missing the bouncing clones entirely.

"Now, night slash!"

"Miracle eye, then psychic!"

The two commands were issued almost simultaneously, but the Kadabra still managed to pull off both actions. Raising his empty hand, he put his thumb and forefinger together, looking through the hole at the clones until his gaze landed on one of them. Then, he raised his spoon and released a pulse of psychic energy.

At the same time, Nyx slashed downwards at her opponent, the shadowy covering on her claws trailing through the air. She managed to slash both claws on the Kadabra, launching it backwards just as a pulse of psychic energy did the same thing to her. But while the Kadabra landed unconscious, Nyx landed on her tail.

Before she could proclaim her victory, however, a massive burst of psychic energy slammed into her, forcing her unconscious as well.

"Never underestimate the power of a delayed move," Carsen advised as he recalled his Kadabra. "Future sight seems useless to many trainers because it's not instant, but if you play your cards right it can be really useful."

"Yeah…" Finn looked at the unconscious Nyx, recalling her to her Pokéball. He had to be more careful in the future, or things like this would happen again. He had forgotten that Kadabra learned the move miracle eye, otherwise he would've had Nyx take it out while it was using future sight. He quickly selected another Pokéball. "Alright then… Jitters."

"Librarian." Carsen also selected another Pokéball.

Then both Pokémon entered the field, and Finn was surprised at what his opponent was.

It seemed as though Carsen's archaeology trip had also netted a new Pokémon. While Finn had never seen one before, He had done his research. Its simian shape, with white fur all over and a yellow star adorning its forehead, clearly marked this Pokémon as an Oranguru. It raised its leaf fan and pointed it at Jitters. "Ook?"

"Yes, the Joltik is your opponent." Carsen nodded.

"Ook."

The Oranguru looked at Jitters again, then shrugged. It placed its fan on the ground and knuckled across the floor until it was face to face with the Joltik. "Ook."

Jitters just trilled in response. Seemingly satisfied with the answer, the Oranguru slowly made its way back to its fan and picked it up again.

"Oh…kay then…" Carsen just muttered, shrugging. "Let's begin. Librarian, use nasty plot."

The Oranguru plopped itself down and placed its knuckle under its chin as if thinking. Nasty plot was a particularly unimpressive move visually, but Finn knew that it gave the user an incredible boost to their ability to utilize energy in their attacks.

As was the typical strategy, Jitters was already vibrating intensely. Needles were flying out of his fuzz and collecting in the air around him, making a thick cloud of yellow hairs that almost completely obscured the Joltik from vision. Then, with a mental command, the Joltik launched each and every hair towards the Oranguru.

Librarian didn't even visibly react, simply raising its fan and causing every single hair to stop in its tracks. The sleepy looking Pokémon looked around, and its eyes widened as it realized that it could no longer find the tiny bug type. The Oranguru cast around, trying and failing to locate Jitters.

Then the Joltik appeared on its arm, his mandibles digging into the larger Pokémon's skin.

Just like that, the battle was over.

The Oranguru slowly toppled over to the side as Jitters siphoned off its energy. After a moment, Jitters unlatched his mandibles from the larger Pokémon, ending the leech life attack and skittering back to Finn's side of the battlefield.

"Was your Joltik…?" Carsen pointed at the cloud of needles, now slowly drifting towards the ground. "In that?"

"Stealth Joltik," Finn answered shortly, grinning.

"Clever and sneaky. Good tactic." Carsen nodded enthusiastically, recalling his Oranguru. "But I will let you know, I'm a gym leader for reasons other than my profession!"

"I thought your profession was gym leader?" Finn asked.

"Erm. Right, no. Uh…" Carsen started to sputter. "I'm a librarian."

"Okay…" Finn was extremely confused by this strange, strange man. He was a decent enough battler, and he was clearly trusted by the Pokémon league, but he acted super suspicious at times and was extraordinarily socially awkward in his mannerisms.

"Anyways, on to the main act!" Carsen grabbed his third and final Pokéball, releasing a towering creature. With long wings extending from its bulbous body and a trailing tail that looked like streamers, it really shouldn't have been able to fly. As it was, the odd creature floated above the ground, its wings periodically flapping. Every inch of its skin was covered in carvings and symbols, so much so that it seemed like the creature was made of wood or stone, rather than flesh and bone. "Archive, let's give our guests a wonderful time!"

The totem, a Sigilyph of a much larger size than Finn had ever seen, trilled in its odd echoing voice. Its three eyes stared down at Finn and Jitters as it hovered, analyzing both human and Pokémon. Jitters looked up at it and emitted a low chirrup.

Then both of the Pokémon launched into combat, Jitters launching a web of electrified silk at his larger foe and the Sigilyph emitting a pulse of psychic energy. The psychic attack caused the webbing not only to stop in midair, but also to whip upwards and drag Jitters along with it. In moments, Jitters had been launched upwards, hit with a gust of sharpened wind, and knocked unconscious.

"How did that just…?" Finn's mouth gaped as he looked at the floating totem.

"Sigilyph are covered in ancient knowledge, and Archive has been here in the Library for…" Carsen looked up in thought. "Five, six thousand years now? He puts basically the entire year on his body in runes, and that's not counting the amount of knowledge he has in his head. He's been at this longer than any human being ever has."

Finn took a deep breath, thinking like lightning. This creature was probably capable of obliterating Athena in a single hit, even if she had type resistance. Didn't Finn hear once that some Sigilyph had an ability that removed type resistances? If that was the case, then Athena would need to take it out in a single hit, which he doubted she could.

"Alright then…" Finn recalled Jitters, grabbing his next Pokéball. "Bastion, Wear 'em down a bit."

With a flash of light, the obnoxious Mareanie coalesced. "Oi! How long've you kept me in there?! We're in a Pokemon battle and you didn't _tell me_?!"

"Could've sworn that you know how long it's been once you're released…" Finn muttered, "Athena and Nyx do…"

"Yeah, well, I don't pay attention." Bastion looked at his opponent, then back at Finn. "What the hell is this thing?"

"Just use toxic," Finn said with a sigh.

"Eh, good enough for me." Bastion started slowly waddling towards his opponent.

Archive didn't seem to know what to think. It was looking down at a creature it knew it had an advantage over, yet that creature was slowly moving towards it without a trace of hesitation. As a psychic, the Sigilyph probably knew that Bastion knew about his weakness, but it still didn't seem to know what to think.

Until Bastion stabbed it and injected toxins into its bloodstream.

Shrieking in pain, and likely rage as well, the Sigilyph floated backwards and started bombarding Bastion with blades of air. The Mareanie just started laughing, even as the blades sliced into his flesh. In a matter of moments, the assault ended, and Bastion was almost entirely unharmed. Bastion then proceeded to launch spikes out of his tentacles, shooting them at the floating Sigilyph.

To Archive's credit, it dodged almost every spike in the spike cannon. A couple of spikes got through its airborne maneuvers, impaling themselves in the psychic type's bulbous body. With all three of its eyes trained on the poison type, the Sigilyph released a pulse of psychic energy, causing Bastion's entire head to implode.

"Archive!" Carsen almost shrieked, looking at the wreckage of the Mareanie's head. "You can't do that!"

"No, it's fine," Finn placated, "He's a Mareanie, they can regenerate anything."

 _"The boy is correct."_ An androgynous telepathic voice echoed into Finn's mind as the totem turned its top appendage, looking at Carsen. _"Creatures such as this are nigh unkillable. A simple psychic attack wouldn't be enough to slay it, and even Arceus may have difficulty ending this Mareanie's life."_

Finn blinked a couple times. There was his evidence that telepathy and psychic invasion were different. While the attempt to read his mind had given him a mild headache and seemed to be resisted, telepathy was clear communication. "Yeah, Bastion will be fine in a few hours. I'll just return him for now though."

He recalled the Mareanie, then grabbed his last Pokéball. Hopefully Bastion's poison had had enough time to work its vile magic. Finn had battled a couple of people while waiting for Carsen to return from his trip to Alola, and he had learned very quickly that Bastion, while not powerful up front, had the ability to inject enough poison into his target to make a Tyranitar faint in three minutes flat.

"Alright Athena…" Finn grabbed his last Pokéball, tossing it up and catching it. He tossed the Pokéball into the battlefield, releasing the Honedge onto the battlefield. With a scrape of metal on metal, Athena was ready for battle. "Retaliate."

Then Athena was behind Archive, her blade having sliced into its bulbous body with incredible speed and power. She immediately reversed her blade, and with a trail of purple energy at the tip of her blade she sliced all the way through the Sigilyph. Her intangible blade, coupled with the incredible power of an empowered retaliate, was enough to finish off her floating foe.

"Well done!" Carsen clapped. "You used the time between Pokémon switches to let the poison rack up its power, then used a combination of retaliate and shadow claw to end it! Tell me, how did you know that Archive didn't have magic guard?"

"Um." Finn froze. "It can have magic guard? As in, immune to indirect damage, magic guard?"

"Ah, well…" Carsen walked onto the battlefield, recalling his Sigilyph. "Best not to dwell on that. Come with me."

Carsen quickly made his way across the battlefield, heading through the massive hall towards an intricately gilded door with smoky glass. He grabbed one sword shaped handle and pulled the door open, looking in. The room beyond was massive, and looked like someone had planted a forest within. "Nope." He closed the door, then opened it again. This time the room was a barren desert, with the only features being sand dunes. "Third time's the charm…" Carsen closed the door again, and this time when he opened it, there was a large room with a second level, bookshelves and other library things everywhere. "Alright then!"

"What. Just happened?" Finn stared at the room, wondering how that trick was done.

"The healing machine is right here, and my computer…" Carsen walked over to a desk, pulling a laptop out from under it and placing it on the desk. He quickly began typing on it as Finn walked over to the healing machine and put three Pokéballs on it, looking over at Athena.

"This place is so weird…" Finn muttered to his Pokémon.

"It's alive," Athena almost whispered reverentially, looking around. It was clear that she saw something that was invisible to him.

"How?" Finn asked.

"I… I'm not sure," Athena replied.

The two were interrupted by Carsen crying out triumphantly and carrying his laptop over. "Just plug your Pokédex in, and I'll give you your badge."

Finn attached his Pokédex to the plug, watching as the completion data downloaded into his device. In a moment, it beeped, and he unplugged it and put it back into his pocket. Carsen placed the laptop on the desk once more and started digging through his pockets.

"Ah-hah!" The gym leader announced triumphantly, pulling a small object out of his pocket. He handed it to Finn. "This is the knowledge badge! It marks the virtues of research and information, and how knowledge truly is power."

Finn took the badge, looking at it. It was shaped and carved like a human brain, with a third eye on the front. He quickly grabbed his badge case and placed the metal badge inside, closing the case with a satisfying snap. He quickly collected his Pokéballs after.

"And this…" Carsen dug around in his pocket some more, eventually producing a disk. "Is a TM for trick room. You may not end up using it much, but when you do it can come in handy. It changes reality so that faster Pokémon move slower, while slower Pokémon move faster. It probably won't be much use to you if you plan on battling slower Pokémon, but if you ever face a foe faster than you, it will be invaluable."

"So, kinda like a speed swap…" Finn took the TM and put it into his bag.

"Similar, but if you send out a slow Pokémon against a fast Pokémon, then your opponent sends a slower Pokémon than yours, their Pokémon will be faster," Carsen explained.

"Interesting." Finn nodded.

"Yep. Yep." Carsen started nodding as well. "Sooo…. So. I'm going to have to escort you out of the Library."

"I know the way…" Finn half turned and pointed at the door.

"No, no, let me." Carsen scrambled across the room and grabbed the door handle, pulling the door open.

"Um… okay…" Finn slowly walked through the door.

The sudden light caused Finn to blink a few times as he walked outside. There was the staircase, there were the lions in front of the library, and there was the sun, right up there.

When he turned around with a question on his lips, the door was closed, and he was looking at the front door to the library. Shaking his head at the whims of psychics, Finn slowly descended down the staircase. As he reached the bottom, he looked back up, and he could swear that there was a psychic presence watching him. He shook his head again.

"Psychics are so weird…"

"Amen," Athena agreed.

"Let's head back to the center." Finn shook his head a third time.

The trip back was uneventful, but once Finn got back to his room he noticed that Belle had changed the channel to the news. She was glaring at the screen with such an angry glare that Finn felt like she would melt the screen.

That was when he saw the topic.

"Two separate representatives from Team Plasma have come up with completely different opinions! More on this story now!

"With the topic of Alolan Pokemon being fresh on everyone's minds, it was no surprise that Team Plasma would have an opinion on this matter. Yet what nobody expected was that two separate representatives would show up, and both with opposing opinions!

"Mister Rood, one of the former seven sages, came forward and informed us that they approve of the transfer of Alolan Pokémon. Rood said that he believed that this would help the Pokémon that are going extinct to recover their numbers."

A man with a rather strange costume appeared on screen, his kindly face smiling in the picture.

"The other representative, the ever mysterious scientist Cyril came forward as well, telling the world that the displacement of Alolan Pokémon would destroy the native ecology. She also said that these Pokémon could ruin the breeding stock of Toreta."

A woman with brown hair and violet eyes appeared on the screen, her left hand raised in a wave. That was when Finn noticed that her hand wasn't gloved, it was entirely mechanical. Finn knew about mechanical prosthetics, and that had even been an option for him, but he had turned it down.

Then a low growl emanated from Belle's throat, and she uttered a single word.

"Talos."

* * *

The woman descended the staircase to the basement level. She wore a smirk on her face at her success, her left hand slowly flexing to test the joints. As she reached the basement laboratory, she made her way through the clutter to a large machine. More specifically, she made her way to the figure who was working on the machine.

"Colress."

"Cyril."

"You seem to be doing well, Colress." Cyril smirked.

"If you consider 'being forced to work on an inhumane machine' as well, then so be it." Colress didn't even look up from his work.

"You aren't even going to look, Colress?" Cyril pouted.

Colress sighed and looked up, then looking back at the machine. After a second, he looked again. "You replaced your prosthetic."

"Mhm." Cyril waggled her fingers. "Hand Overdrive Replacement Unit Version 1."

"So, even though both Resurrection and Sequence failed, you're still wasting resources on projects that will never come to fruition." Colress shook his head, resuming his work.

"On the contrary, this one has already been successful. Metagross metal plating, with condensed Steelix skin over the top." Cyril turned her hand, examining the reflection of the light on the dense metal plating. "It's just a shame it doesn't work for humans."

At that, Colress's head snapped up so fast that he may have gotten whiplash. "You used a Sequencer? Only four have survived the process intact."

"And those four used their own Pokémon. Naturally, I had to try the same thing." Cyril smirked again. "The results are… fascinating."

"For the sake of science, I must know. What are the effects of injecting Metagross DNA?" Colress asked.

"My bones are harder than steel, my mind works faster than you could possibly imagine, and I am far stronger than any human being, even counting the other Sequence survivors." Cyril closed her eyes, then opened them again. "It's like the whole world moves at half speed."

"So, did you come to gloat?" Colress asked with a sigh.

"No, I came to ask you to help."

"With what?" Colress glared at the other scientist.

Cyril reached into her pocket and pulled out a vial. "Help me complete Talos."

Colress outright laughed. "Talos was my project before, and it failed then. What makes you think it'll work now?"

"Our employer knows what went wrong last time, and we can avoid it," Cyril explained.

"Your employer. You know full well what happened," Colress growled, "In any event, no. What went wrong was that you made yourself involved. I won't have that again."

"Then you'll be the first to use that machine you're making." Cyril turned and walked off, her shoes clacking on the floor. She turned and looked over her shoulder. "You'd better make it perfectly."

"Oh I'm aware…" Colress muttered to himself, "I made this bed.

"Now I'll be lying in it…"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And here's the psychic type gym and battle!**

 **The whole psychic type gym is based off of 'The Librarian' movies and TV show. The movies are a cheesy adventure story in the same vein as Indiana Jones, but the plot is intriguing and the character development of the protagonist, a young man named Flynn Carsen, is actually well structured. The TV show is pretty awesome as well.**

 **Now then, onwards to name origins!**

 **Carsen: Named after Flynn Carsen, the protagonist of The Librarian.**

 **Merlin: Named after the wizard.**

 **Librarian: This one's a bit more personal. One of my favorite book series of all time is the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. In it, there's a magical library whose custodian is an orangutan, who was transformed from a human in a magical accident. I very heavily suggest reading the Discworld series.**

 **Archive: Sigilyph is based off of totem poles, which act as a recording of a tribe's spiritual ancestry. From there the name wasn't to hard to come up with, as with the lore.**

 **That's all for this time! Please leave a review to let me know what you think!**

 **Now read on!**


	21. Revenge

They say that revenge is a dish best served cold.

Because when someone swears revenge, they often do so in the heat of the moment. When one is enraged or otherwise upset, they make irrational decisions. Yet when revenge is enacted, it is so often weeks, months, or even years later. With so much time in between, the one who swore revenge has enough time to plan and plot.

But there's a much better reason for spending so much time to enact revenge.

While you may desire revenge while angry, you probably won't after you cool down. Like that person who cuts you off on the freeway. You may want to drive them off the road in the heat of the moment, but once you get to your destination you forget about it.

There's also a logical reason to wait until your anger dies before planning revenge. People who are emotional will have their decisions clouded, their logic becomes flawed. This isn't just a matter of opinion; it's fact. Every emotion will cloud your logic, from joy to rage. That's not to say that emotions are bad, far from it, but they are not conducive to perfect logic.

So when you hear someone say that revenge is a dish best served cold, there is a very, very good reason behind it.

* * *

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with cherries on top?"

"Um, no."

"Tell me or I'll rip you apart?"

"I'd like to see you try."

"Can we please not do this?" Finn groaned, throwing his head back.

"No, I need to know!" Bastion insisted, wrapping his tentacles around Finn's neck in order to maintain his position on Finn's shoulder.

"It's. Not. Important," Athena growled.

"What are you two even arguing about anyways?!" Finn asked, exasperated.

"I wanna know why Belle's antisocial," Bastion explained, "I figured lady bladeface would know."

"Wanna know something special? I don't." Athena tapped Bastion in the back of the head with her sash, nudging him to the side.

"Okay, conversation over. Now stop jostling so that you don't snap my neck. Please," Finn pleaded, "I may have periodic blackouts, but I'd rather not cause them."

"Whoa, whoa, you get blackouts?" Bastion turned his head to look at Finn. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's not important," Finn answered flatly.

"Uh, you occasionally fall over. That's pretty important to me. What if you fall on me?" Bastion protested.

"Yes, you might wind up killing me," Finn said dryly.

"Why do you get blackouts anyways?" Bastion pointedly ignored Finn's previous statement.

"Genetic condition." Finn's statement held a tone that quite clearly warned off further conversation.

Clearly Bastion didn't get the memo. "What's it called, anyways? What other things does it do? How oft-,"

This was the point at which Athena decided to strangle him. The Mareanie gave a strangled ' _Gurk!_ ' and fell off of his shoulder. It was probably fortunate that Athena's sash was cutting off his circulation and preventing him from tightening his grip. Athena quickly let go, however, when she realized that she couldn't lug the poison type around while still levitating.

Bastion had chosen to wrap his tentacles around her sash.

So now Finn was dealing with a pair of quarreling Pokémon, both of which could easily kill him if he made a single wrong move.

He counted himself fortunate that Belle barreled past at this moment, causing Athena to spin out and slam Bastion into a tree. The stunned Mareanie fell to the ground, his head bruised. But Finn's attention was drawn to Belle, as she was usually well behind the others and walking silently. Now she was animated and upset about something, to the point where she blatantly ignored Athena. Athena was probably the one who had gotten closest to the Machoke, even if Belle never told Athena anything about herself.

"Stop fighting. Now. Nyx!" Finn called out this last word to the Gliscor, who was circling overhead. "Keep track of Belle!"

Finn quickly began to run after Belle, doing his best to keep up. She may have been much faster than him, but Finn was fortunate enough to have a guide in the sky to watch. Behind him he could hear Athena slicing through brush and branches, and further back he could hear Bastion groaning and complaining.

Finn wasn't sure how far he had run before he slammed headlong into an immovable object. After a moment to collect his bearings, Finn realized that the object he had run into was the Pokémon he was chasing after, and she was staring angrily at a building in a clearing.

The building in question was large, with concrete walls and tinted windows. For some reason it seemed familiar, but then Finn realized why. This was a Plasma facility, with the high-tech lights lining the roof, and the sliding glass door. The dead giveaway, however, was the fact that there was literally a P/Z shield emblem set above said door.

"Belle, what's going on?" Finn slowly stepped around her, looking up at the Pokémon's face. She was staring at the building with undisguised hatred.

Belle grunted, then started to stomp towards the building. She quickly drew the attention of the Team Plasma patrols, and was surrounded in seconds.

"Alright then, what have we here?" One of the grunts edged closer, raising his shotgun to point it at Belle. "Anyone got a spare Pokéball? Boss might want more subjects for that new test of his."

"Yeah, but what if it's a trainer 'mon?" Another grunt asked, pulling a Pokéball out of his pocket.

"You've got that snag glove from Orre, haven't you? Use that," The first grunt suggested.

"Right, right…" The second grunt reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny glove, slipping it over his hand and swapping his Pokéball to that gloved hand.

Finn was justifiably nervous now. Belle may have been stronger and smarter than others of her species, but even she couldn't take on this many opponents at once. Several of them had firearms, and all of them had at least one Pokéball on their person.

It was fortunate, then, that Athena arrived at that time. She had carried Jitters the whole way, the Joltik clinging to her pommel to stick with her. Finn immediately grabbed her hilt and sheath, allowing Jitters to make his way to a perch on his head, and ran towards the ring of Plasma grunts.

Out of the corner of his eye, Finn saw the grunt throwing a Pokéball at Belle. Phantasmal fingers emerged from the open sphere, only to fizzle and vanish as they came into contact with Belle's skin.

 _He readied himself, preparing for combat with multiple foes. Master had taught him much about combat, far more than any other student of his, and Master had the greatest of confidence in him. He had prepared for this scenario multiple times, and his psychic senses had warned him ahead of time for this ambush._

 _The instant his foes attacked, he launched into action. Muttering to himself the strategies that Master had drilled into his head, he carefully incapacitated each of his human foes._

 _"Thunder wave, then tap right… there." He executed the move, then landed a precise punch on his foe's temple, knocking his foe unconscious._

Finn blinked, looking at the scene before him. He had bashed the back of one man's head with the sheath, knocking him unconscious, and was holding Athena's blade to the throat of another. Three of the grunts were completely paralyzed from Jitters' thunder wave, Bastion had been dropped from the sky onto the head of another, and was choking the man into unconsciousness. Nyx had her claws to yet another grunt's throat, and Belle had used all of this commotion to bash two heads together and knock both of them unconscious.

And all of this happened within ten seconds.

The tenth and last grunt decided now to raise his gun and fire.

Belle immediately jabbed him in the face, knocking him unconscious. She then grunted and looked around, trying to figure out where the man had fired.

"Oh." Nyx looked down at Bastion, who had a sizable hole in his head. The Mareanie fell over to the side, incapacitated while his head regenerated. "He'll be fine, right?"

"Probably…" Finn muttered, sheathing Athena's blade. "Alright Belle, mind explaining why you rushed headlong into a group of Plasmas?"

The Machoke just grunted, turning towards the Plasma building and grabbing the sliding doors. She shoved them to the sides with as much force as possible, causing the glass to shatter and the metal frames to bend irreparably out of shape. Before the klaxon could go off, Belle then punched the alarm system. Instead of the high-pitched alarm that should have emitted, it let out a low whine. One more jab, and the entire alarm system went silent.

Belle grunted in satisfaction, then proceeded down the hallway.

"Aw crud." Finn looked at Bastion, who was already recovering from the bullet wound, and back at Belle. He glanced at Nyx. "Nyx, take care of Bastion, we'll be back."

Without waiting for a response, Finn grabbed Athena and dragged her with him into the Plasma outpost. There was absolutely no way he was letting Belle get herself into trouble with whatever defense systems this place had, not without backing her up.

Belle eventually slowed to a halt in a hallway not dissimilar to the one that was in the Plasma outpost near Geistom. With white cells lining the walls, and touchscreen interfaces set under the viewing window of each cell. Just like in Geistom, each cell was completely unusable for storage due to incredible damage. Some had holes in the walls, a couple had destroyed doors, but most had disabled locks.

But one, the one Belle stopped in front of, had a notable hole in the floor. It was impossible to tell how far down the hole went, as it descended into darkness, but it was probably safe to assume that it connected to History Caverns at some point. Just about every subterranean area in Toreta was connected to the History Caverns, after all.

In fact, the mines in Vernac Town were connected to the History Cave.

And Vernac wasn't too far from here.

Then it clicked. This was the exact cell that Belle had been in. The one where she had been given her #066 brand. The one where whatever had made her so antisocial had occurred.

Belle stared at the white cell for a few moments, then walked up to the interface and began typing with a dexterity that Finn hadn't seen in her thus far. She seemed to be searching for something specific on the database, but couldn't find it. After a few moments of frantic searching, she gave up, backing away and slumping against the wall opposite the cell in defeat.

"What were you searching for…?" Finn asked, not expecting an answer. He stepped forwards to the touchscreen and started digging through the database, looking for the logbook. After a minute or two, he found it.

 _Entry #001_

 _The Vernac outpost has been successfully set up, thanks to the assistance of our local agents. We hope to use the local resources to begin work on greater technologies._

 _Entry #002_

 _We've begun collecting local Pokémon for experimentation. Main base is sending a supervisor to watch my projects._

 _Entry #003_

 _Cyril's projects have been unnecessarily violent and cruel. Sequencer killed ten people, and irreparably changed four more, the Metamorphize device has proven to cause irreparable trauma in Pokémon, and all of the 'life enhancing' machines she has worked on are weapons. I have taken over the management of this outpost, and such projects are now discontinued._

 _Entry #004_

 _My employer has ordered me to begin a new project, using dust of the mythical Z crystals from Alola and mega stones. The expected result is something beyond normal. A Pokémon with the appearance of an ordinary creature, but power and intellect comparable to Legendaries._

 _We are calling this project Talos._

 _Entry #005_

 _Talos has, thus far, been successful. Every subject has evidenced increased strength and an increase in learning speed. We are adding Shuckle extract to the serum to further accelerate physical and mental growth. My worry is that this may provoke an unhealthy growth in cellular mitosis, but with luck that will be avoided._

 _Entry #006_

 _My employer came by today to check on my progress with Talos. He was very happy with my progress thus far, except for a single subject. Number sixty-six, the Machop subject, has shown vastly increased independence since the day we started to administer the drug. I will have to investigate this._

 _Entry #007_

 _Subject number sixty-six is everything I had hoped for in Talos, and more. While I expected the subjects to experience accelerated growth of muscles and intellect, she has not only become stronger and smarter, but also has evolved. The most bizarre effect is that her physiology has grown more like that of a human, without losing any of the durability or strength of a Machoke. After scanning her whole body, I discovered that she had developed vocal cords not dissimilar to those of a human. I very much hope to teach her how to speak._

 _Entry #008_

 _Three months have passed since the last entry._

 _Talos is in shambles._

 _I shall start from the beginning._

 _It began when my employer visited again. I located him as he was attempting to, shall I say, 'test the reaction times' of subject sixty-six. I quickly steered him away so as to end his assault on the subject, when he told me of further information._

 _The tests had returned, and almost every single subject had evidenced cancer cells growing within their brains. He informed me that, if I couldn't find a cure to this, Talos was to be terminated._

 _Disheartened, I returned to my laboratory to do research on this matter. There was naught I could do about the cancer cells, so I informed the scientists under my direction that Talos was to be terminated._

 _Apparently they believed this meant that the subjects must also be executed. One among them, I believe it to be Cyril, went into the holding cell area and announced this to all of the subjects._

 _Before this, all of the subjects were calm and docile. They all happily awaited my regular visits, and they were passive and affectionate, at least towards me. After this announcement, all of the subjects, with their increased intellect, attempted to escape. Not a single one remained behind after this commotion, all of them having escaped. Sixty-six was perhaps the most difficult to keep track of, as she dug a tunnel to History Caverns._

 _I can only hope that the subjects survive._

 _Entry #009_

 _Colress has been removed from his position as project manager of this outpost. I am now back in charge. The first project we will work on is the H.O.R.U. Mk.1_

 _I expect this to go well._

"Holy crap…" Finn muttered, slowly backing away from the touchscreen. "So that's what it was… an experiment to make legendary Pokémon out of ordinary Pokémon, followed by a misunderstanding and a stampede…"

The screen beeped, and medical scans of a Machoke appeared. Finn immediately recognized it as Belle, due to the unique body structure. Directly contradicting the story told, Belle's medical scans were perfectly healthy.

Finn blinked a couple times, then ran up and down the corridor to pull up more medical scans.

Each and every one was in peak condition.

"So, not just a misunderstanding, a sabotage…" Finn whispered, turning to look at Belle.

Who was gone.

Cursing under his breath, Finn gestured to Athena to follow him, and ran down the hallway again. If they had guns, there was nothing Belle could do to defend herself.

Sure enough, there were clatters and crashes from up ahead in the building. Finn accelerated, dragging Athena with him. He quickly emerged into a room and located Belle.

On the other side of the room, there were three humans. One with a fancy helmet designed with a third eye on the forehead, one with a pair of sparking daggers, and the third with an oversized gauntlet over their left hand.

With a start, Finn realized that he recognized these three figures. On the left was Renard, the Kalosian man who had psychic abilities. A faint pink aura surrounded him, and the pieces of a metal chair were floating around him in a protective barrier. On the right was Dua, the woman with enhanced speed and reflexes. Electricity arced between the daggers she was holding, yet there was no evidence of wires attached to the metal blades.

The woman in the middle, however, was not someone Finn had seen in person. But he recognized her brown hair and purple gaze, and especially the mechanical hand that he had mistaken for an oversized gauntlet. She flexed her fingers experimentally and grinned.

"Well, if it isn't the kid that has befriended subject sixty-six." Cyril laughed. "You were such a success, and here you are, a playmate for a child."

Belle growled angrily, and with a roar of rage hurled a chair at Cyril.

Cyril drew back her left arm, then launched it forwards. The mechanical hand slammed into the seat of the chair, launching it back at Belle and breaking off the back and legs. The dented metal plate hit Belle in the chest, but the impact did nothing.

"I will say though, I'm impressed." Cyril shook her hand and flexed her fingers. "I'd have expected you to die by now, Finnegan. A Honedge, a Mareanie, and a psychopathic Machoke."

"How do you know about me?" Finn asked, dropping into a combat stance and unsheathing Athena again.

"Oh, like we wouldn't keep tabs on the boy who survived a Honedge attack?" Cyril scoffed, "Renard's probably the best intelligence agent in Toreta."

The Kalosian man nervously waved at Finn. "Er, I apologize."

"Don't apologize, idiot," Cyril snapped at Renard, her hand tightening into a fist. "Now crush them. I'm tired of talking to this child and his pet."

"Erm, yes ma'am." Renard raised his hands to his temples, sending out a pulse of psychic energy.

Immediately, Athena teleported Finn behind Renard, her blade trailing purple energy as it slashed through Renard's torso. The man screamed in pain and collapsed, his energy expended.

"Don't kill him!" Finn protested, horrified.

"I didn't! Shadow claw is an intangible attack!" Athena replied frantically. "He's just abnormally weak to it!"

Athena quickly teleported him away again as Cyril launched a punch at him. The mechanical fist slammed into the wall, and the plating lifted away from the machinery and released a cloud of steam. The scientist started cursing under her breath as she pulled her hand out of the wall, trying to start it moving again.

Meanwhile, Belle launched herself at Dua, trying and failing to wrap her hands around the human's neck. Dua ducked around her and jabbed Belle in the sides with her electrified knives. Belle began spasming, not able to control her muscles.

Thinking quickly, Finn scrambled across the room to Belle. He quickly pressed the release for Belle's power-save belt, then ducked away as Dua tried to jab him with a dagger. Dua may have acted somewhat goofy when he met her before, but now she was emotionless and silent. It was incredibly terrifying.

With her power-save belt removed, Belle immediately ceased her spasms. Her whole body was rigid, as if she was forcibly controlling each of her muscles individually. It must have taken in incredible amount of discipline and control to do so, but she was managing to do this and still focus on the combat. Taking a moment to line up a punch, Belle paused, then launched her fist forwards.

Dua tried to dodge, as she always did, but that's when Belle's other hand came in from the side and tapped the human's temples. Dua hit the ground with a thud.

Which left Cyril.

The scientist had removed some of the armor on the back of the hand and was using her right to tap on a touchscreen. After a few moments, the armor realigned itself with the rest, and Cyril began to move her fingers once more. She sighed in relief, then looked at Finn.

"Well, Finnegan, I must admit that you've given me a challenge." Cyril's armored hand clenched into a fist. "But, of course, challenges were made to be overcome."

Cyril lunged across the room, covering an impossible distance in a single leap. She launched her left hand at Finn in a punch that would surely break his skull open.

Then a pulse of electrical energy emitted from a small Pokémon who had been forgotten in the chaos. Jitters paralyzed Cyril with a thunder wave.

Cyril screamed in rage, her attack ruined by a simple move. She landed heavily and staggered past Finn, the paralysis being warded off by something within her own body. "A simple miscalculation, and everything falls apart!"

Finn raised Athena's blade until the tip was to Cyril's throat. "Underestimating an opponent is the greatest mistake."

"Oh, but of course," Cyril snarled. Her eyes lit up with a faint blue light, and a pulse of psychic energy forced Finn backwards. "But not if you're flawless."

Indeed, it did seem like Cyril was flawless in combat. She was warding off paralysis to a degree that most Pokémon couldn't manage, she was strong enough to punch through concrete, and she had some amount of psychic powers. It seemed like there was nothing that Finn could do to her.

But Finn noticed that, even while she was paralyzed, she was always keeping the fingers of her mechanical hand moving. Always keeping them mobile. Always making sure that the servos were running.

He had found a flaw.

"Belle, grab her mechanical hand!" Finn commanded, stepping forwards. "Jitters, spider web! Athena…" He smirked. "Let's show her what we can do."

The next few seconds were filled with action. Jitters spat out a glob of webbing, anchoring Cyril to the ground. The scientist was easily able to pull the webs apart, but Jitters continued to cover her feet in the silk. Belle, seeing what Finn wanted, dashed forwards and clamped Cyril's fingers together. Cyril shrieked in rage, trying to pull her mechanical hand out of Belle's grasp, but was unable to overpower the Machoke.

Finn continued walking forwards, raising Athena's blade in preparation for a shadow claw. "I've figured it out. Renard and Dua said that they were part of a DNA experiment, where they gained DNA of a specific type. But you clearly have psychic abilities, and you're far stronger than a pure psychic type of any form would be. So either you're psychic fighting, or psychic steel." Finn scanned over Cyril's body again. Her hand was smoking and inactive due to the disuse, the servos having locked up. Her entire lower body was covered in spider webs. But it was her eyes that he found most interesting. At the start they were purple.

Now they were an angry red.

"I'm guessing steel." Finn swung Athena's blade as Belle let go of Cyril's arm. The woman raised her mechanical arm in an attempt to block, only for Athena's blade to phase through both her arm and her torso.

And like that, Cyril was unconscious against a wall.

"Specifically Metagross." Finn sheathed Athena, letting go of her blade so she could float on her own. "I saw her eyes darting across the room and locking onto objects of interest. Athena's blade, Belle's power-save belt, and most importantly my scar." He chuckled and walked across the room, picking up Belle's belt. "But the kicker was how she overlooked Jitters so easily. Metagross are calculating creatures, sure, but they're cocky."

"How do you know all this?" Athena asked, floating just behind Finn.

"My mother's the steel type gym leader, remember? Her ace is a Metagross, one that I've seen, touched, and talked to hundreds of times. I know just about everything about Metagross, or at least just about everything that we know." He turned around and walked towards Belle. "Sorry Belle, but you've got to put this back on."

Belle grunted and took the belt, attaching it around her waist. She walked over to Cyril and dug around in her labcoat, eventually producing a vial marked 'Talos'. After looking at it for a moment, she threw it to the ground. The vial shattered into pieces, and the serum flowed across the floor.

"So, is that the last of that?" Finn asked, watching the serum flow into a drain set into the floor. He had no idea why a laboratory had a drain, but he honestly did not want to know.

Belle nodded, then walked across the room to a filing cabinet. She ripped it open and pulled out the papers inside, riffling through them in search of something. After a moment, she found what she was looking for, and pulled the paper out. She slowly walked back to Finn and showed it to him.

To Finn's surprise, it was a letter.

 _To anyone who may find this,_

 _Talos has failed. Sabotaged. Destroyed. It was a success, but Cyril did not want me to 'infringe on her domain'. She was the Toretan head of operations for years, and all I can say is that I pity those who worked under her._

 _If one of the subjects locates this letter, by searching under Talos Misc. files, know that you are healthy. Talos was terminated by me, not by my employer or by Cyril. I wanted to set you free, but they would not allow that. I knew full well that Cyril and her lackeys were cruel to you, and I know what my employer has done. I am sorry that you were forced to escape._

 _If someone else locates this letter, know the truth. Talos was not just using minerals and rare candy to enhance Pokémon, it also used human DNA. Many of the subjects reacted poorly to it, and those I gave a faked serum. One that did nothing more. The project was to make Legendary Pokémon from ordinary Pokémon, but my research on the man-made Legendary Mewtwo showed me that it is the closest thing to a missing link between humans and Pokémon that there is, and this give it strength. I never intended to give human intelligence to Pokémon, but I had no choice._

 _To Subject sixty-six, the one subject I can consider a complete success, do not let Plasma get their hands on you once more. They will use you for future projects. My employer thinks that I cannot see what he plans, but I can. Unless something else comes up, you are the one thing that can complete his plans._

 _Please, do not let them know._

 _Colress._

"What the…?" Finn muttered as he read the letter. "This… this is confusing, but it also explains so much." He looked up at Belle. "But they didn't want to capture you, did they? They wanted you gone. Why would that be…?"

Belle shrugged, taking the letter and gingerly returning it to the cabinet. She hesitated for a moment, then walked back to Finn. She grumbled for a moment, emitting sounds that he couldn't make any sense of, then stopped. She looked at Athena, expecting her to translate.

"She says thank you," Athena quickly supplied.

Finn smiled. "Anything for a member of the family."

Belle just stared at him, stunned.

He pretended to ignore it. "Come on, we need to go make sure Bastion isn't cursing his head off."

* * *

 **So now you all know exactly what the Talos Project is. But that doesn't quite explain everything, does it?**

 **Speaking of the Talos Project, I named it after the divine of the same name from The Elder Scrolls series. In The Elder Scrolls, Talos is the ninth divine, and is a man who has become a god. In Pokémon, Legendaries are the gods of the world. Since the project is to make normal Pokémon into Legendary level creatures, I found the name fitting.**

 **As always, leave a review to let me know what you think!**

 **Now read on!**


	22. Return

They say that you can never cross the same river twice.

Now, theoretically, this is because the river will have moved on since then. The water you crossed the first time will have moved further down the river, meaning that it is gone. Thus, you do not cross the same river a second time.

This is absolute crap.

It is the same river. The riverbed is the same, the water composition is the same, and the plantlife underneath are the same. Sure, the actual water molecules have moved along, but that can happen while you're standing on a bridge over the river. So can you not stand over the same river twice as well?

Perhaps people just look at the saying the wrong way.

It's not that you can't cross the same _river_ twice, but _you_ cannot cross the same river twice.

Consider this.

Not even taking into account the biological fact that 'you' is recreated from instant to instant, people change. The you that crossed the river the first time may have been naïve and young, but when you cross the river again you will be a different person. Maybe you're confident and wise, stronger and smarter, or maybe more cynical and jaded. Every action you take changes 'you', changes your identity.

So yes, it is impossible for 'you' to cross the same river twice.

* * *

"So how did you figure that out then?" Nyx asked, clearly confused.

"So I already told you about the Plasma hideout in Teret City, right?" Finn queried. Nyx nodded, so he continued. "Dua and Renard, two of the Plasma members there, had DNA alterations where they gained a specific Pokémon type. But, well, there's no way to get the DNA of a type without taking it from a specific Pokémon."

"So they have the DNA of a Pokémon…" Nyx mused, "But what Pokémon are they?"

"I don't know, but I do know that Dua likes physical attack with dual weapons, and Renard relies upon his psychic abilities." Finn shrugged. "But Cyril certainly had Metagross DNA."

"How could you tell?" Nyx tilted her head.

"Well, she was throwing herself into combat," Finn explained, "But she still had psychic powers. That told me that she was either confident in her physical power or durability. So that meant she had steel or fighting as a secondary enhancement type. I highly doubt she would use the DNA of Pokemon that isn't fully evolved, so that narrows it a bit. She couldn't have used Bronzong DNA, because Bronzong prefer passive combat, and there was no way that she had Gallade DNA without using blades. Since there are only four Pokémon with psychic typing and either steel or fighting, that left two more options. If she had Medicham DNA she would have been using swift, precise strikes. So she was using Metagross DNA, because only Metagross out of those four utilizes its physical durability and strength as its primary strengths, even counting its incredible processing speed and power."

Nyx was silent for a few moments, then she spoke. "Okay… I think I understand…?"

"It's kinda complicated, but think of it like this. There were only four possibilities, and three of them were ruled out by her actions," Finn stated simply.

"Oh, that makes more sense." Nyx nodded.

"The only part that I didn't understand was Cyril's eyes changed color…" Finn muttered, "I mean, she did genetic experimentation, but why didn't her eyes change color until then…?"

"Stress induced, most likely," Athena suggested, having been silent the whole time thus far.

"Yeah." Finn nodded. "That's probably it. Still, strange."

"Probably best not to dwell on it," Athena said.

"I'm still pissed that you didn't wait for me to regenerate before going in guns blazing," Bastion pouted.

"Don't worry, you'll get plenty of action where we're going." Finn sighed. "Although you probably won't like it."

"Bring it on!" Bastion growled. It would have been intimidating, if he didn't have an oversized head and was only a foot tall.

"I warned you." Finn shook his head and chuckled, heading towards the crevasse that led to his destination.

It wasn't long before Finn arrived in Vernac Town, the tiered settlement situated in a ravine. The teenager walked along the stream that divided the small town in two, his eyes set upon his goal.

The ground type gym.

Stopping just outside the gym, Finn turned to look at his Pokémon. "Alright, I'm going to warn all five of you now. Jitters, Athena, Nyx, you already know what's going to happen in there. The gym leader uses Pokémon that are far stronger than they should be, regardless of the challenger's skill level. If any of you want out, speak now."

All five of the Pokémon were silent, then Athena spoke, "I think I speak for all of us, but we're not going to back down from a challenge."

"Especially if this punk is cheating," Bastion added.

"That's more or less it, really," Nyx said.

Finn looked to Belle. The Machoke was impassive as usual, but she met his gaze and nodded. She wasn't going to let a cheater go scot-free.

"Then that's settled." Finn took the five Pokéballs from his belt. "Return."

The five Pokémon transformed into energy and vanished into the red and white Pokéballs. Taking a deep breath, Finn turned around and walked into the gym.

He had forgotten that the inside of the gym was an impossibly large cavern that was carved into the earth, with the floor being composed entirely of dust and sand. Despite the lack of natural sunlight, scraggly brush was growing all throughout the cavern, probably drawing their energy from the Solrock and sunstones that made their home in the ceiling.

Finn immediately made his way to the reception counter, taking his Pokédex and registering himself into the system.

After a moment, the receptionist looked up at him. She seemed to recognize him from the last time he had been here. "How many badges do you have?"

"Four," Finn answered.

"Then good luck." The receptionist sighed. "You'll need it."

The woman pressed a button on her desk, then waved Finn on into the gym. The teen quickly hurried along, not because he was eager to fight but because he wanted to get it over with as fast as possible.

The challenge of the gym was pretty much what one would expect of a gym themed around perseverance. An ever shifting slope of sand and stone, the footholds constantly changing position and the flowing sand ever pushing down. Finn knew that he wouldn't have too much trouble with it, even given his usual luck with uncertain footholds. Heck, his luck with supposedly safe footholds was pretty awful. Still, all it would take to succeed would be, well, perseverance.

With this in mind, Finn made his way up the hill.

It was almost an hour before he managed to reach the top.

Finn wiped the sweat off of his forehead and continued forwards. He knew that the hard part hadn't really begun, even if the most physically taxing one was over. He didn't have to look far to see Trinity, who had her back turned and was shoveling sand pointlessly.

"I'm back," Finn announced.

Trinity straightened and planted the shovel in the ground, turning around. The muscular woman had a big grin on her face. "So you are. But are you ready to fight, Finn?"

"As I can be," Finn replied, grabbing one of the Pokéballs on his belt.

"In that case, let's start with someone you remember." Trinity snatched a Pokéball from her own belt. "Whiscash!"

The blue fish appeared on the battlefield, its goofy grin already fixed on its face. Finn released his own Pokémon, Bastion. The Mareanie appeared, looking at his opponent with a grimace. "I have to fight this ugly-,"

"Bastion, use toxic spikes," Finn immediately interrupted.

Bastion paused and looked at Finn, then turning back to his opponent. The Mareanie performed an odd tentacle shrug, then began to shake his head violently. Poison covered spikes rapidly spread all over the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the Whiscash was slamming its tail into the ground to create its personalized sandstorm. As soon as the dust was swirling through the air, the nature of its ground-pounds changed. Instead of stirring up dust and sand, it was causing the ground to shake almost uncontrollably.

Finn knew that Bastion couldn't stand against the earthquakes for long, but he also knew that his best chance came with applying two layers of toxic spikes to make the poison more virulent. He held off on his next command until Bastion had used a second toxic spikes, then immediately acted. "Toxic!"

The Mareanie immediately launched the spike atop his head at the Whiscash, the point piercing the blue fish's skin and pumping a powerful toxin into it. It was just in time, too, as the next earthquake attack caused Bastion to fall unconscious.

That was more or less what Finn expected, and he sent out his next Pokémon. "Nyx."

As soon as the Gliscor appeared, Finn issued a command. "Pogo!"

Trinity was so confused by the command that she looked across the battlefield at Finn. "What?"

In response Finn just grinned. On the battlefield, Nyx was bouncing about on her tail as though it was a pogo stick; the same tactic that she had used to confuse Carsen's Kadabra. In a matter of moments, she had used double team enough times to be indistinguishable from each other bouncing Gliscor on the battlefield. The Whiscash tried to fire off several blizzards, only to find each and every one missing.

"Alright, now use acrobatics!" Finn instructed.

Each and every one of the Gliscor clones launched into the air, all of them circling around the Whiscash. Dozens of barbed tails launched downwards, each of them landing in the blue skin of the fish. The Whiscash moaned in pain, trying to flail and hit Nyx out of the air. There was nothing it could do, however, as the only Gliscors it hit were phantasmal in nature. Nyx landed a fair distance from the aquatic Pokémon, balancing on her tail once more.

Then the Whiscash collapsed.

Trinity stood there, flabbergasted. "You defeated my Whiscash…" The gym leader shook her head and put on a defiant expression. "In that case… Tremor."

Her next Pokémon was well over seven feet tall, very close to eight. With orange armor plating and two horns atop its head, Finn recognized Tremor as a Rhyperior.

And its first action was to fire a beam of blue energy from its hollow hands, freezing the real Nyx solid.

Finn quickly recalled Nyx, sending out Jitters in her place. The Joltik only had a moment to act before a nasty stone edge launched him into the air. Tremor pointed one of its cannon-like arms at the airborne Joltik, firing a single stone that hit Jitters with an unnatural gravity. The bug-type hit the ground with a soft thud.

Athena met a similar fate soon after, with a single earthquake taking her down.

Finn's hand clenched around the last Pokéball, his fingers sliding over the pink raised sections of the master ball he held. He had been hoping that his adapted strategy would be enough for him to defeat all of Trinity's Pokémon, but he hadn't accounted for a Rhyperior, much less one that knew ice beam.

Still, Belle seemed to enjoy a challenge…

"Belle, this one's yours!" He cried out, releasing the Machoke.

Belle launched into action the instant she materialized, her fists glowing with energy as she slammed them into the Rhyperior. The glowing energy splashed off of the rock type, flowing back and empowering Belle further. Power up punch after power up punch hit the towering Rhyperior, not seeming to phase it in the slightest.

Tremor drew back both arms, raising them to summon an earthquake. It was just about to finish the attack, too, when Belle used low kick.

Both of the powerhouse Pokémon hit the ground, causing the entire arena to shake. Finn was almost certain that the Rhyperior was down for the count; low kick did more damage to heavier Pokémon, and Rhyperior was among the heaviest. That, coupled with the endowment of power from the repeated power up punches, should have been more than enough to take out the rock type.

Then, to Finn's utter astonishment, the Rhyperior stood up.

And Belle remained on the ground.

"Got anymore whelps, kid?" Trinity taunted. Her usual grin was gone. In its place was an almost identical one, but lacking any trace of joviality and kindness. It was chilling.

"No." Finn raised the master ball. "Belle, return."

With that, Finn turned to leave. Trinity laughed at him as he walked off. "Feel free to return any time, maybe you might do some damage."

Finn just clenched his fists tighter, not rising to the bait. That was impossible. Yes, Rhyperior had incredible physical defenses, but even that shouldn't have saved it from six power up punches and a low kick. Seven full attacks, and the brute shrugged them off.

It was impossible.

Even Belle, who had been the most successful subject in an experiment to make normal Pokémon into legendaries, wasn't even able to put a dent in its armor. Belle could punch through trees without effort, be poisoned, paralyzed, and burned without flinching, and Finn had once seen her lifting a boulder more than fifty times her size, when she thought he wasn't looking.

So how had she lost? Especially with Bastion's poisons in play, the Rhyperior should have been unconscious.

Finn realized that someone was following him.

He had already made his way almost to the Pokémon center before he realized that someone had been following him almost the whole time. Whoever it was, they had been at the gym when he left, and had tailed him all the way here.

Turning around, Finn caught a glance of his mysterious follower. A young man clad in a cowboy costume, the stranger put on a smile and just continued towards him.

"Hello there!" The man greeted. "Finnegan, isn't it?"

"Yes…" Finn warily replied.

"My name's Sebastian." The young man introduced himself. "I work up at the gym, in special effects and decoration managements. Couldn't help but to see your battle against Trinity, and I think I have a way you can get an edge."

"Really," Finn said flatly. "And what is that?"

"Your Machoke." Sebastian grinned. "That one could easily evolve, if you just traded it."

"Really…" Finn repeated, this time thoughtfully. After pondering it for a moment, he shook his head. "I don't think so. Not right now."

"Well, just lettin' ya know." Sebastian shrugged and turned away, walking off.

Finn watched him leave, then looked down at the master ball that he hadn't even realized was still in his hand. He hesitated a couple moments, then called out to the young man. "Wait."

Sebastian turned around, an inquisitive look on his face.

"Let's do it. It's a trade evolution, right?" Finn asked.

"Yup. Come with me." Sebastian gestured for Finn to follow, heading towards a rather derelict building.

At first Finn was reluctant to follow, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he wanted to go through with it. Belle wasn't the sort to take defeat well, she would likely want to evolve as soon as possible. As far as Finn could see, it was the correct choice.

In retrospect, he would have found his judgement clouded by anger.

Finn followed Sebastian into the building, specifically to a trade machine. He already knew the procedure, placing Belle's Pokéball on his side of the machine as Sebastian placed one of his Pokéballs on his side.

Both of the trainers pulled the levers, causing the machine to light up and the two Pokéballs to vanish into the piping.

After a moment, the Pokéballs dropped down on opposite sides.

"Well, thanks for your Machoke." Sebastian took the master ball, smirking. "Well, Machamp now."

"What?" Finn sputtered. "We're supposed to trade back now."

"Hmm…" Sebastian hummed, putting one finger on his chin. "No, I don't think so. I never agreed to that. You just traded me a Machamp for an empty Pokéball."

Eyes widening in shock, Finn pressed the button on the Pokéball, only for nothing to happen. The teen looked up at Sebastian and growled. "Give her back."

"I don't think so." Sebastian tossed the master ball into the air and caught it. "In fact, I reckon this here beaut' aughta' be exactly what I need to make sure you leave me alone. Kill him."

With those words, the criminal released Belle from her master ball prison.

As Finn knew, a master ball commanded complete control over its occupant, regardless of the holder. This, along with the fact that all of Finn's Pokemon were still out of service and Belle's unnatural strength, meant that he was doomed. If Belle tried to kill him, there was nothing he could do to survive.

Fortunately for Finn, he didn't have anything to worry about.

As soon as the occupant of the master ball materialized, a fist was flying at Sebastian's face. The conman didn't expect his newest acquisition to fight back so quickly, and was launched across the room to hit the wall. Hard.

But what had Finn stunned, however, was what he heard.

"-ck you, bastard."

Belle shook off her fist, then looked down at herself. While she had the four arms and blueish skin of any Machamp, there were several things that set her apart. The first and foremost was her form. She was far slimmer and lither than a normal Machamp, with slimmer shoulders than most of the species. Her face was more humanlike than a normal Machamp too, with the oversized mouth being far more proportionate to a human's face. The crests atop her head weren't as large either, being both shorter and less noticeable than they would be on most Machamp.

She looked at Sebastian, shaking her head. She spit on the ground. "Don't tell me what to do. Worthless scum."

"Y-you're…" Finn stuttered, his eyes wide.

At this point, Belle noticed Finn. Upon seeing him, her expression softened noticeably. It was clear that she tolerated him far more than she did most humans. "Hi."

"You're talking…" Finn almost whispered it, too surprised by this turn of events to speak loudly.

Belle was silent for a moment before she spoke again. "Athena… Athena can talk to you. You understand her. Nyx too. And Bastion, the pest."

"And now you too," Finn replied. He looked at Sebastian, then back at Belle. "You punched him out."

"I tried to incapacitate you too. When you caught me," Belle answered, walking across the floor and picking up the master ball. She walked back to Finn. "But… you're a friend. I… I trust you with this."

She held out the master ball.

Finn didn't know what to think. Clearly she could defy the control of a master ball, or maybe it was something about the master ball itself. It was, after all an experimental model. But here she was, giving Finn her freedom. Because she, the traumatized experiment, trusted _him_ , the kid who really had no clue who to place his trust in.

"Why?"

It was such as simple question, but it carried so much weight. Finn didn't understand why Belle trusted him. She had plenty of reason to hate the human race as a whole, and she clearly had a special hatred for males in general. So why was she trusting a teenager with her freedom? She could very easily just crush the master ball in her hands and be free.

Indeed, Belle didn't answer for a while, but when she did, she had clearly thought her words through. "You haven't tried to abuse me or my strength. And even though you forced evolution upon me, I _did_ want to evolve out of my own desire to grow stronger. Strong enough to prove myself." Belle paused for a few moments, thinking through her next words carefully. "I think… I think I trusted you ever since that first day. At the streambed. When you gave me a name. But… I didn't realize it until now. When I didn't want to hurt you. You caught me against my will, but have tried so hard to make me feel welcome. Like… like family.

"So please, please continue. You taught me how to trust. You, Athena, little Jitters, Nyx, even Bastion, the annoying punk. I feel… like I belong. For the first time." Belle reached out and took Finn's hand, gently placing it over the master ball. "Let me stay with you. Please."

Finn slowly took the master ball. "Then let's go."

Belle truly wanted to stay with him. To be a part of his little family. She felt like she belonged with them.

But that raised the question…

If she felt like she belonged in a group of misfits, what had happened during her time in the wild?

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Guess who's back?**

 **Sorry for the long delay since the last chapter. I've been caught up in life and writer's block, and it's been killing me to not be able to write for you all. I haven't spent all of my time idle, however. I now have an account on Fictionpress, FanFiction's sister site. It has the same username as this account, and you can expect my usual storytelling tactics there as well. Currently my only story is a fantasy romance named 'On Wings of Trust', it has twenty-two thousand words so far, so there's a bit for you all to read right now.**

 **Since we're back in Vernac Town, let's have some name origins, huh?  
**

 **Vernac: an anagram of cavern. I always wanted an underground city or town in Pokémon, and this is my way of getting it. Just... don't heed the fact that it's a ravine and not a cavern.**

 **Trinity: To be honest, I really don't know. I wanted to name the gym leader Terra, but then I realized that was too obvious and easy. I toyed with the sounds in my head for a bit, and eventually wound up with this.**

 **Tremor: Look, if you can't understand why a ground type is named tremor, you need to seriously rethink some things...**

 **That's all for this time! As always, please leave a review letting me know what you think.**

 **Now read on!**


	23. Rethink

There's something about time that boggles the mind.

Many people spend their lives obsessed with turning back the clock. Some wish to go back so that they can meet a famous historical figure. Others think that going back can change the way the world works, so that the present is better. The most common reason, however, is that they wish to correct a mistake that they have made. To save a life, or to amend a ruinous decision.

Yet that is not what baffles people when it comes to time.

Time seems to be flexible. Time can pass at the snap of the fingers when one is distracted, yet it drags on endlessly when one is bored. It's honestly rather strange how that works.

Yet even that isn't the strangest part.

No, what people fail to understand about time is that you can't get it back. There are only so many hours in a day, so many days in a year, and so many years in your life. Any other resource can be obtained, but not time.

So don't waste it.

* * *

The duststorm intensified around the combatants, having no visible effect on either. The larger of the two began to glow blue, the air temperature getting lower and lower. With a cry of anger, the large blue creature released the blizzard, sending the icy vortex spiraling towards its purple opponent.

"Nyx, get out of the way!"

The purple-grey scorpion jumped over the ice crystals, splitting into dozens of copies in midair. Each copy glided down towards the blue fish, the claws cloaked in light absorbing shadows. Letting out a hiss in its triumph, the gliscor slashed down at the whiscash, leaving trails of shadow along its skin where the pincers hit. To complete the action, the scorpion jabbed the fish with its tail, pushing off and gliding to a safe distance.

"Good job, Nyx, now use acrobatics!"

"Whiscash, blizzard again."

Another vortex of blue light and ice spiraled through the arena, this time washing over the gliscor entirely. The scorpion cried out in pain as the crystals covered its body, freezing it solid.

"You did your best, Nyx. Return."

Red light encompassed the gliscor, causing it to change to a form of energy and light. The red light flowed back into the metal sphere before going dark.

"Alright, Belle. It's all you!"

A large blob of white energy shot out onto the battlefield, forming into an incredibly muscular humanoid with four arms. Immediately upon entering the battlefield, the machamp launched itself forwards. All four arms slammed into the whiscash's slimy skin at once, causing its body to distort comically. The recoil of the hit sent the whiscash flying into the air, where it turned into red light and returned to a metal sphere in the gym leader's hand.

"Golurk."

The light resolved into a massive blue and grey creature, two glowing yellow eyes in its disproportionately small head. The golurk simply stood there as the machamp attacked it, none of the machamp's attacks even connecting. The machamp seemed to realize this, and quickly raised one hand and shrouded it in ice. But by then, it was too late.

"Earthquake."

The entire arena shook under the force of the earthquake, and the machamp fell to its knees. The golurk looked down at the creature with its emotionless eyes, then raised one foot.

"Heavy slam!"

 _Thud._

When the dust cleared, the machamp was unconscious.

"Belle, return."

"You've still got a long way to go, kid. Come back when you're better at this."

The challenger turned and left, the Pokéball clenched tight in his hand.

He managed to make it out of the building calmly. He made it to the Pokémon center easily too, getting his Pokémon healed quickly. He even made it out of town, to a small clearing he had frequented in order to train.

"It isn't _fair_!" Finn screamed in frustration.

Reaching down to his belt, Finn tapped the buttons on the front of each and every one of his Pokéballs. Five orbs of light shot out into the clearing, each forming into a different shape. Honedge, joltik, gliscor, mareanie, and machamp all appeared out of the shimmering light.

"How has the league not dismissed her yet?!" Finn ranted, kicking a rock across the clearing. "Using Pokémon that are higher threat level than gym leaders are allowed, moves that are _banned_ in gym battles before the sixth badge, and having a rhyperior that can tank hits better than a shuckle!"

"Sounds to me like you're just not good enough yet, cripple."

There was only one person that could be. Finn turned to see Darrell, the cocky bully wearing a confident smirk. Finn sighed. "What do you want, Darrell?"

"Same thing any trainer wants." Darrell raised his right hand, a Pokéball held within. "Let's battle."

Finn took a deep breath. Maybe this would calm him down. A victory in a Pokémon battle would help to ease his anger, at least a little bit. "Alright. Let's go."

Darrell tossed the Pokeball. "Christine, deploy."

The roserade appeared on the battlefield in a flash of light, twirling delicately on her spindly legs. With a smirk characteristic of her species, Christine raised both of her bouquets, ready for battle.

"Bastion, get ready for battle."

Bastion waddled to a position opposite Christine. The mareanie put on a grin. "Heya sweet-smellin'."

"Christine, petal dance."

Finn's eyes widened. Petal dance was a devastating move that lasted quite a while. It would leave Christine confused and dizzy afterwards, but by then the move would defeat at least one of Finn's Pokémon. "Bastion, use toxic spikes."

The mareanie immediately began to shake, causing spines to shoot off of his back all over the battlefield. Christine didn't even take note, instead launching into a dizzying pirouette that caused the petals on her bouquets to fly in a flurry around her. The razor-sharp petals cut into Bastion's skin, shredding through him faster than he could regenerate.

Bastion fell over, unconscious and bloodied.

"Bastion, return." Finn raised the Pokéball, shock clear in his voice. What just happened? Bastion was incredibly durable. Even considering the power of the move, there was no way that should have knocked him unconscious instantly. Perhaps a different strategy would be necessary, then?

After a moment of thought, Finn raised his hand. "Nyx, your turn."

Nyx glided onto the battlefield, balancing carefully on her tail. Knowing already what Finn had in mind, Nyx launched herself into the air and started to glide around in the air above the grass type. The gliscor split into three copies, each one identical to the first, then began to glow light blue. Empowered by acrobatics, Nyx divebombed towards Christine. With a mighty swipe of her tail, Nyx batted the roserade to the ground.

Then fell out of the sky, the poisonous thorns and razor sharp petals having taken their toll far quicker than Finn could account for.

"Nyx, return." Finn shakily raised Nyx's Pokéball. Right before his eyes, Christine was getting back up. Worse for wear, yes, but still easily able to battle. How did Darrell's Pokémon get so strong? It was impossible! "Belle."

Belle immediately launched into the battlefield, two of her hands bursting into flames as she pummeled the plant creature. Unlike Bastion - who constantly shot off insults or jibes - and Nyx - who growled in concentration while she attacked - Belle was entirely silent. Not even a grunt escaped her as she attacked the roserade, quickly bringing it down.

Finn could see the effects of the roserade's thorns on Belle, but knew full well that the machamp was actually better off because of it. Poison, paralysis, and burns always made Belle fight at greater strength.

"Christine, return." Darrell recalled the grass-type with the Pokéball in his left hand, then raised the one in his right. "Khione, to battle."

The orb of light coalesced into a creature of white and blue. The creature seemed to be made of ice, with a body resembling a kimono and its head being spherical. Its arms looked like they were in loose sleeves, and its whole body was made of ice. As Finn saw it, his blood went cold. Darrell had evolved his snorunt into a froslass.

Belle immediately began to use fire punch on the ice-type, her increased strength meaning that if she could land one good hit, it would be over immediately. Landing that hit proved to be difficult, though. The froslass moved like some sort of balloon, drifting just out of reach of every attack.

"Khione, destiny bond," Darius ordered.

Finn's eyes widened. "Belle, stop!"

It was too late. The froslass stopped its evasive maneuvers just in time for one of Belle's flaming fists to slam into its icy body. The hit knocked the froslass out cold, but at the same time the dark energy of destiny bond caused the same force to reflect onto Belle. Both Pokémon fell to the ground, knocked unconscious simultaneously.

"Khione, return. You're outta your league, cripple," Darrell boasted with a smirk. "You may as well give up now."

Finn silently raised Belle's Pokéball and recalled her. How did this happen? The last time Finn had battled Darrell, it had been an overwhelming victory. This time, Darrell was obliterating him. Finn glanced sidelong at Jitters and Athena. They were the last two. Jitters was quivering in fear, his tiny body shuddering. Athena was resolved, but worried.

"I forfeit."

Darrell seemed to freeze in shock, his eyes widening. After a moment, a triumphant grin found its way to Darrell's face. "Yes! About damn time! I win! Eat it, Ferris!" Darrell placed the Pokeball in his hand back on his belt. "Things are finally going my way! First an easy gym victory, then I finally beat your crippled ass."

The bully turned to leave. Finn stared at him for a moment, then his eyes widened. "Wait, you beat the ground-type gym?"

Darrell glanced over his shoulder. "'course I did. Trinity was real nice to me once I beat her. She invited me to a group called-," Darrel cut himself off. "Er. Nevermind. All that matters is that _I_ won, and _you_ lost."

"Well…" Finn gave a pained grin. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, whatever." Darrel turned to leave. "See you, cripple."

With that, Darrell left.

Finn slowly sank to the ground, his knees folding under him. Though he felt defeated, his mind was running at top speed. What had Darrell done to be able to beat Trinity? It certainly wasn't brute force, and Darrell wasn't one for advanced tactics. There had to be something that was going on here.

After minutes of thought, Finn sighed and rose to his feet. There was something sketchy going on here, but he couldn't puzzle it out. All he could do was train and train and hope that it would be enough. Maybe it would be enough, after a year or two.

"Alright, let's go."

Athena floated over and attached herself to his back as Jitters began to scuttle towards him. Finn leaned over to pick up the joltik, then put the little creature on his head. His hair was growing a bit out of control, lately. A barber was definitely in the near future.

Finn started off back towards Vernac Town. The clearing wasn't far from the small ravine-bound town, but it was a fair distance. Far enough for him to practice his sword skills without worry that someone would stumble upon him and wonder what kind of moron would try to use a honedge as a sword. It would be extremely awkward for someone to see him conversing with his Pokémon. Not that people didn't talk to their Pokémon; it was that many didn't act like their Pokémon talked back.

The road into Vernac was well-trod. It would be, since Vernac was a prosperous mining town. Most evolutionary stones, mega stones, and similar artifacts came from the branch of History Caverns that Vernac had access to. The town was extremely popular on a business front. On the tourism front, however, it was lacking to an extreme. Skolar was a beachfront, and Ephar was known for its gardens, but Vernac was mostly ignored.

When Finn entered the town, he noticed that it was quite a bit more active than usual. More people going in and out. People were all over, exchanging paper credits and trinkets. People had tables strewn with knickknacks and trinkets, as well as the occasional evolution stone or mundane crystals.

Today was a market day.

Finn had completely ignored the people setting up their shops earlier, mostly due to his anger and frustration, but he had seen them. It just hadn't registered that they would be doing… well, anything. Instead, there were far more people milling about than there were in the population of the whole town. There were rare items in Vernac markets, and they were often sold for far less than their true value.

After giving it a moment of consideration, Finn shrugged. He may as well check it out. After all, there were some amazing items that were sold in these markets, and he had money to spare. In any event, it would take his mind off of the rather crippling defeat earlier.

Deciding to just take a chance, Finn walked up to the nearest table and examined the objects for sale. Most of them were completely normal, like random bits of geode, quartz, and obsidian. A couple of rare gemstones, like lapis lazuli, were there as well, but Finn wasn't looking for something that was both expensive and useless.

A dark purple chunk of rock caught Finn's eye. As he glanced at it, the rock flickered, as if lit by an internal light. It was a rather surreal object, seeming only half-real, but Finn could almost feel its presence. It sat there, incongruous with the stones around it, seeming as though it bent reality around it.

"Excuse me." Finn looked up and spoke to the man tending to the collection. "What's this?"

The salesman followed Finn's gaze. He picked up the purple stone and held it up. "Well, I don't really know. I _think_ it's a dusk stone, but I haven't had it appraised yet."

"A dusk stone, huh?" Finn reached into his pocket and pulled out his Pokedex. "How much for it?"

"Eh, I'll give it to you for a thousand credits." The salesman waved dismissively. "I've got a ton of evolutionary stones in backup."

"Do you take digital payments?"

"I sure do." The salesman leaned over and picked up a laptop case from under the table. He removed the laptop from its case and placed a dex adapter to it.

Finn attached his Pokédex to the adapter and downloaded the credits straight to the man's computer. When the transaction finished, the Pokédex let out a beep, and Finn put it back in his pocket."

"Pleasure doing business with you."

"You too." Finn bid the salesman farewell and left the table.

He put the stone in his bag. If it was a dusk stone, it would come in handy later. Doublade needed a dusk stone in order to evolve, after all. If it wasn't, then it was fine. A thousand credits was actually a very small amount, in the grand view of things.

"Hey, over here."

Finn glanced around, quickly locating the source of the call. A young man sitting at a rather out of the way table. There were all sorts of battle items at the table, some that Finn recognized and a few he didn't. Among the ones he recognized were metal coats, a life orb or two, and a singular focus sash. But there were also a couple of wooden disks with targets painted on them, iron balls that looked like they weighed a ton, and multiple bracers and bands with different designs.

"That right there is a fine honedge, kid." The man at the table whistled. "I betcha that it's pretty good, right?"

"Um. Yes?" Finn raised an eyebrow. Something was fishy.

"But on the flipside, I bet you're having trouble with Trinity, aren'cha?"

"Yes. How did you know?" Finn furrowed his brow. Yes, something was definitely off here.

"Lotsa people have difficulty beating Trinity." The man waved his hand dismissively. "She cheats."

"Yes. Yes she does."

"But I got something that'll make your life a hundred times easier." The man picked up one of the wooden disks. "Know what this is?"

"Um, no?"

"This here is a ring target. Slap it on any target, and blam!" The man threw the target straight down onto the table, causing the other merchandise to rattle with the impact. "No more immunities."

"Uh-huh." Finn nodded. It could, theoretically, come in handy. But it was just as likely to be a made up story to sell these little trinkets.

"No, really!" The man backed up from his table and walked around it, picking the ring target back up. "If you don't mind, I can demonstrate right here! We just gotta get somewhere that we won't accidentally hurt anyone. There's plenty of space behind my stall."

The man beckoned for Finn to follow as he entered the alley directly behind the stall. After hesitating for a second, Finn followed. If worst came to worst, Athena could shadow sneak him out. Or Jitters could paralyze the salesman and web him.

"Alrighty, just give this ring target to your honedge, and I'll show you how it works." The salesman tossed the ring target to Finn, who barely caught it.

Finn handed the ring target over his shoulder to Athena, who disconnected herself from his back as she took the ring target in her sash. Finn looked up at the salesman again. "So, how does it work?"

"Like this." A flash of light blinded Finn as the unmistakable sound of a Pokéball opening echoed through the alley. It was swiftly followed by something hitting Finn in the gut, hard.

"I'd like to see your machamp get you out of this one," A voice whispered into Finn's ear.

Finn recognized that voice. It was the voice of a con artist. Sebastian. The man who had tried to trick him into trading Belle away. Anger bubbled up inside of Finn in that moment, but with the blow to the gut, he wasn't even able to breathe right now.

Electricity crackled through the air, and Sebastian let out a cry of shock and pain. That would be Jitters at work.

Quickly clearing his eyes, Finn looked around. Sebastian was leaning against a wall and convulsing, while the salesman had sent out a conkeldurr and was directing it to smash Athena into the ground. Ordinarily Finn wouldn't be worried, but the fact that it hit her with a hammer arm terrified him. Clearly the salesman hadn't been lying about the effects of the ring target, even if he was trying to steal Finn's Pokémon.

"You know, kid. You've caused a lot of trouble for us," Sebastian wheezed as he pushed himself back upright. A Pokéball appeared in his hand, then opened to release an alakazam. "Crush his skull."

The alakazam grunted in acknowledgement and raised its spoons, psychic energy emanating from them. Finn could feel the pressure being applied to his head by the psychic type's energy.

Someone let out a battlecry, and the whole alley was filled with light once more. Electricity crackled through the air towards the alakazam, only to be deflected off to the side by a hastily erected light screen. The psychic energy was directed to a different target, and Finn could feel the weight on his head lessen as Jitters was flung into a wall.

Then, as if nothing had interrupted it, the alakazam continued to put pressure on Finn's head.

A metallic screech filled the alley, and a bladed form whistled through the air to slice into the alakazam. A third blast of light filled the alley, this time emanating from Athena.

Her form rippled as she ruthlessly slashed at the alakazam, her blade growing longer. With a metallic shearing noise, Athena's blade split along the edge, becoming two blades of identical length and shape. Both of her sashes were wrapped around her sheath, which also doubled and gained an almond-shaped plate of metal that connected the two sheaths.

Athena was evolving into a doublade.

And that made Finn very, very scared.

Evolution was a delicate process, even in the best of circumstances. Some Pokémon experienced evolution as a natural part of their life cycle, like baby Pokémon. But most only evolved due to stress. And because stress was an important factor in spurring the evolution of, say, honedge, it meant that they only evolved when in immense distress. Logically following, if they were in immense distress, then they would need to be stronger to survive. The problem was that, like most ghost types, when a honedge evolved it lost control.

Athena's blades shimmered and solidified, slicing through the alakazam's chest and incapacitating it easily. When the conkeledurr tried to use a hammer arm on her again, Athena's blades whipped through the air and sliced the fighting type across the chest as well, causing the massive creature to crumple.

Then the sheath clattered to the ground, and Athena lunged towards Sebastian, her sashes stretched towards him.

"No!" Finn pushed himself forwards as Athena wrapped her sashes around the con-man's neck. With his arms trembling, Finn grabbed Athena's sashes and pulled away.

 _"You must get rid of him. If he realizes what #066 can do when properly motivated, then we won't be able to do anything."_

 _"Yes ma'am."_

 _"Well, get to it Sebastian. I have other things to worry about."_

Finn recoiled as the memory flowed through his mind unbidden. That wasn't his memory. That was _Sebastian's_ memory. He had stolen one of Sebastian's memories on accident.

But his initial ploy worked, and now he had two purple sashes in his hands. Finn's eyes widened as Athena swung her blades at _him_ , and he ducked under them. Finn quickly reached up and grabbed the hilts of her blades, holding them in place with all his strength.

"Wh-what the hell are you?" Sebastian stammered, rubbing his now-scarred throat.

"Get out of here." Finn glanced at the con-man. "I'm not going to let her kill you now, but I'm growing more tempted by the minute."

Sebastian scrambled away, stumbling every few steps. He didn't even bother to recall his alakazam. Both the con artist and the salesman ran out the other end of the alley, not turning around to see if Finn followed.

He wasn't paying attention. He was far too focused on keeping Athena's bloodlust from making her finish off the two Pokémon. She wouldn't want to do that, if she were in her right mind. Unfortunately, she wasn't.

Then, like a switch flipped, Athena's blades both stopped struggling, and her sashes hung loosely.

"Finn?" Athena's voice was ragged, as though she had been screaming. "Wh-what happened?"

"You evolved, Athena." Finn finally relaxed. She was back. "You evolved and saved my life."

"I-I…" Athena removed herself from his hands. Her eyes looked down at the unconscious Pokémon that she had taken out. "Oh Arceus, please tell me I didn't-,"

Finn bent down and picked up Athena's sheath. "You didn't. You didn't kill anyone."

"Thank-thank Arceus…" Athena sank to the ground. She couldn't cry. Doublade didn't have tear ducts. But Finn could _feel_ her combined anxiety and relief, and knew that she would be crying had she the biology to do so.

Finn placed the sheath near Athena, then turned around to locate Jitters. The joltik was much worse for wear, having been slammed into a concrete wall, and had fallen unconscious. Finn recalled the bug type, knowing that he would be able to recover better in the Pokéball, and turned back to Athena. She was sheathing her blades shakily. She wasn't used to having two eyes, but Finn knew she would adapt.

As soon as Athena had her blades sheathed, Finn picked her up. She weighed easily twice as much as before, but she hadn't really weighed much in the first place. Holding the shaken doublade close to himself, Finn walked back out onto the street.

Tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow would bring relief.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Wh-what? Is that... a new chapter?! By Arceus! I didn't think he could do it!**

 **Yeah, I'm really sorry for not posting. Motivation issues, life, and all sorts of other factors got in the way of writing, and I just couldn't bring myself to open Microsoft Word and type in something that I already planned out.**

 **But hey, it's here now!**

 **Athena has evolved, at long last. She's probably overleveled for her current evolution, if that makes any sense. She has a great deal more experience than most honedge do when they evolve.**

 **There's only one new name this chapter, which is Khione. Khione is the name of the daughter of Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind.**

 **As always, please leave a review to let me know what you think!**

 **Now read on!**


	24. Regret

What do you call it when you feel like you've lost?

Not lost a battle, or lost a game. No, not a simple competition. What do you call it when you feel as though you've lost at life?

What is it called when you've given up? Where it doesn't seem worth it any more. When the only thing you have to look forward to is the inevitable end, and you feel tempted to bring it closer and closer. What do you call it?

Many people make a joke of this feeling. Some people dismiss it as a cry for attention, or a nihilistic attitude. Others use it as a source of humor. Taking something sad or tragic and making people laugh at it. But it's still very real. The humor lessens the impact in the moment, but in the long run it doesn't help at all.

When you feel as though you have no purpose, or you think that there is no way out. What is that called?

I've always called it depression.

* * *

The rhyperior hammered down on Athena with its fists, the incredible strength of its strikes forcing her blades into the ground. It didn't matter that it was using a rock type move on a steel type, the massive creature was far stronger than any normal Pokémon. With a final smack down, Athena fell unconscious, her sheath slipping out of her sashes.

"You really think you've got a chance, kid?" Trinity laughed. "Come back later."

* * *

"Jitters, use thunder wave!"

The bug type had dropped the ring target he was carrying on the massive golurk, removing the ghost/ground type's immunities. It seemed as though Trinity didn't know that, though, because she burst out into laughter at the thought of thunder wave affecting a ground type. Her surprise was complete, though, when the electric type move not only hit, but completely immobilized the titan.

"Now, electro ball!"

Jitters jumped into the air, a ball of electricity generating between his four legs. Letting out a screech, he hurled it at the much slower golurk, causing electricity to course through its body and force it back a step.

Then the golurk stomped the ground, and the ensuing earthquake was more than enough to incapacitate Jitters.

"Oh, please. Stop your little party tricks. They're not getting you anywhere."

* * *

Belle slammed an ice punch into the golurk, causing the golem to stagger back under her assault. The machamp followed up with two more ice punches, forcing the golurk further back. With a final hit, Belle sent the towering creature to the ground, where it lay there unconscious.

"Golurk, return. Tremor."

The rhyperior entered the battlefield, roaring to attempt to intimidate its opponent. Belle didn't even give it a glance, just hurtling forwards with her hand glowing. Four power up punches hit the rock type simultaneously, making it stumble back a step. It didn't seem to matter, though. The rhyperior stomped its feet, causing an earthquake attack to rumble through the arena.

Belle pushed on through the earthquake, continually hitting the rhyperior with power up punches. When she hit the sixth punch in a row, Belle swept the rhyperior's legs out from under it, causing the massive rhino to hit the ground with a thud. Belle didn't stop there, though. She continued her assault, this time using karate chops instead of power up punches. The enhanced strength granted to her by power up punch caused each chop to stagger the rhyperior.

Then, the rhyperior jumped to its feet with surprising agility. It took a single step back, then hurtled forwards, its stone form twisting through the air as its horn hit Belle in the chest. Her muscle and skin quickly ripped away, and her ribs shattered under the force of the horn drill.

"Belle, return!" Finn frantically recalled the machamp, causing her to vanish in red light. All that was left on the battlefield to show that she was there was the blood on the floor, spilled by an illegal move.

"Don't ever think you've got the edge, kid. I've always got another trick up my sleeve."

* * *

 _"Why are your Pokémon so weak? It's like you're deliberately NOT training them."_

 _"Would you look at that, the joltik didn't go down in one hit! Not that it matters. Tremor squished it."_

 _"Wow you're bad at this."_

 _"Just give up."_

Finn's eyes opened to gaze upon a world of dust.

He looked around, seeing only blast craters and destruction. The trees were nothing more than hollow trunks, although they were usually just ash. The grass was completely gone. Nothing could grow in this environment. Especially not plant life. And without plant life, the entire ecosystem collapsed. There was absolutely nothing living.

There were, however, plenty of dead.

Finn ducked behind cover as a ghost drifted past, its hollow eyes and sagging skin showing its nature. This one used to be a human, a little girl. Now it was dead, and existed only to take life from others. That was how Athena had been killed.

Finn knew he was the last living creature on the planet. Well, in Toreta, at least. He had tried to find other survivors, but each and every one he had found was as good as dead anyways. Some were dying from the ghosts, others were just as bad as the undead monsters. Finn had put more than one out of their misery, using Athena's body as his tool. Her blade could cut the ghosts, which had saved his life on more than one occasion. It wouldn't help in the long run, though. He was doomed, be it naturally or unnaturally.

His only wonder was how this could have happened.

Finn had thought his life was meaningless before, but now he was the last living being. Athena had fallen prey to her own kindness, trying to assist one of the mindless ghosts. Belle had been unable to defend herself from the insubstantial creatures. Bastion's regeneration was of no use when he was already dead. Nyx couldn't stay airborne forever. Jitters was the last one to die, using his abilities to ward off the ghosts so Finn could escape.

 _-wE tOld yOU We would HavE You aS OuR VesSel…-_

Finn's blood chilled as the spirit rose from the ground in front of him, its purple form fluctuating and changing as it ascended. Green orbs dotted its body as it leered down at him with its luminous green grin.

 _-NoW, YoU aRe OURs!-_

"This is not a vision you were ever meant to see. Wake up."

* * *

When Finn's eyes opened, he knew he was back in reality.

It wasn't some sixth sense, or odd detail. It wasn't the fact that he could read words properly, or that when he looked down he saw his body normally. It wasn't even the fact that he was in his room in the Pokémon center.

Instead, it was the sense of hopelessness that flooded through him.

He lay in bed for a while, trying and failing to find the energy to get up. What was the point, anyways? He couldn't do anything to beat Trinity, not with her cheating. That rhyperior had nearly killed Belle! Belle, one of the strongest Pokémon he had ever seen! It was like her defenses were worth nothing, the way that the rhyperior had torn through her skin and muscle. The only reason Belle hadn't died was because Finn was quick to act, and brought her to the Pokémon center immediately.

She still hadn't recovered, either. She wasn't able to battle for another week because of the move that Trinity had made. It was infuriating, both for Belle and Finn. Belle because she was a born fighter. She was a machamp, for Arceus's sake! Finn found it infuriating more because Trinity had the gall to cheat in a gym battle. He knew now that Belle was fine, and that had always been his top priority, but now he was mad at the cause.

A calloused hand rested on his shoulder and gently shook him. "Finn?"

"Yeah…" Finn groaned as he sat up. He was so sore, and he didn't know why. He hadn't done anything _too_ exhausting, apart from getting up in the morning. Sometimes he felt like that was enough.

"Finn, are you okay?" That was Nyx. Always worried about him. She didn't need to be. He was fine. Just… tired.

"Yes," Finn answered simply. He looked around the room. Bastion was sitting on the chair he had slept in, where he had been when Finn fell asleep. Belle was up, though. She had commandeered the other bed in the room when Finn had booked it. Athena didn't sleep, so had spent all night on the internet. Nyx had slept outside, but Finn left the window open for her. Jitters sitting on top of Finn's bed, having crawled out from beneath the covers. All of them were looking at him with concern.

"It's just…" Nyx began, only to stop. She fiddled with her claws, kind of like someone wringing their hands. "You've been so… lifeless, lately. We're worried about you, Finn."

"You don't need to be." Finn looked around. "I'm fine."

"But… you're not," Bastion interjected. For once, his tone wasn't crude and flippant. He sounded serious. "You never _do_ anything. We used to train every day, but now you just go through the motions. We only train once a week, now, and it's just barely enough to keep us in shape."

Once a week? But Finn would swear he had gone out the past couple days in a row. "What?"

"Finn." Belle spoke, her deep voice soft. "It's been over a month since you last challenged Trinity."

"But that's because you've been hurt. I don't want to leave you out," Finn protested.

"I…" Belle cut herself off, turning away.

Athena spoke next. "You can't keep doing this to yourself, Finn."

"I'm _fine._ " Finn protested.

"Finn-," Athena began.

"Can I speak to Finn alone, please?" Belle asked.

Athena met Belle's gaze, then bobbed in acquiescence. "Let's leave them."

With that, Athena floated over to Bastion and picked him up. Her newly evolved form afforded her enough strength to easily lift the diminutive mareanie, even though it slowed her. Nyx scooped Jitters up and followed Athena out of the room.

Once the door to the room closed, Finn and Belle sat in silence. That was honestly fine with Finn. He didn't feel like anything needed to be said. He was just glad for the silence.

Belle clearly didn't feel the need to talk, instead moving over to sit on Finn's bed next to him. She sat there in awkward silence for a while, her hands resting in her lap. The only sound in the room was her breathing.

"It's not your fault," Belle said quietly. "You cannot keep a cheater from cheating."

Finn was silent. That wasn't the point. The point was that there was nothing he could do. Nothing. He just wasn't good enough yet.

"I don't blame you," Belle continued. "You could not have foreseen it."

Still silent. He didn't need to hear this. He knew it. But he still felt helpless. He _should_ have known that Trinity would use a forbidden move. Hell, she already used blizzard and earthquake, two moves that were banned in all but the highest rank tournaments. Trinity was a known cheater.

"I just… wish you didn't blame yourself."

Four arms wrapped around Finn, embracing him in a gentle hug. Finn just sat there stiffly. He wasn't rejecting her affection, but neither was he entirely accepting it.

 _"Oh, how sweet. How touching. Master and Pokémon bonding. I'm going to puke."_

Belle jumped in surprise, which in itself surprised Finn. She was usually impossible to startle, with how observant she was. Even Nyx couldn't sneak up on her from the air, and gliscor were known for their silent flight. "Who's there?"

 _"Well, I've been called shorty, ballerina, squirt, mushroomhead, and 'ohmygoshohmygoshcatchit!', but I prefer my own name. Craitarot. You can call me Crai."_

The psychic message echoed through Finn's head, causing him to look up. Standing in the doorway of his room was a diminutive creature. It was generally humanoid, albeit two feet tall, and had a frill like a skirt about its waist. Its skin was white on the upper half of its body, while the skin below the frill was pale green. Its head was adorned with 'hair', the same pale green color as its legs, as well as two horns that sprouted from the sides of its head. Its eyes were red, and staring so hard at him that he could almost feel the disgust from it.

Finn dully recognized it as a kirlia, a psychic-fairy type that could read emotions. "What do you want?"

 _"Well, I originally came here to prevent myself from a massive headache, but thinking about it, I'd rather have the headache from ignoring my visions than deal with a walking skeleton."_ Crai's mental voice was scathing. _"It's depressing just to be near you. Arceus, is this the person that fate wants to be my trainer?"_

"Walking skeleton?" Finn muttered, confused.

 _"When was the last time you looked in a mirror, pal?"_

"Um…" Finn stood up, wincing at his sore legs. He slowly walked past the kirlia into the bathroom and turned on the lights. When he looked at the mirror, he was shocked.

The person in the mirror looked nothing like Finn recognized. He was unnaturally thin, with his bones clearly visible beneath the skin. He had bags under his eyes, denoting the lack of rest he had, even though he had gotten plenty of sleep. What worried him most, though, was the fact that he could see some grey hairs atop his head.

"Oh Arceus… I've only made it worse." Finn slumped onto the counter, resting his elbows on the countertop and sinking his head into his hands. "I'm already sick and I've made it _worse_."

 _"Good, you've realized that there's a problem. That's the first step to fixing it,"_ Crai commented, walking up next to Finn. _"Maybe next you'll actually get to that."_

"What do you want with Finn?" Belle asked quietly. There was a menacing undertone to her voice that Finn picked up on, but either the kirlia didn't notice, or didn't care.

 _"Look, I'm prescient. My whole species is. It's a psychic thing. Along with being prescient, we also need to make sure these visions come true. Otherwise, it's a massive headache all around. This human-,"_ Crai pointed at Finn. _"- is in my visions. As my trainer. I used to want to be his Pokémon, but seeing him as he is now, I doubt it's worth it."_

Finn turned on the sink and splashed water on his face, blinking as the cold water shocked him awake. He looked back at his reflection. In all honesty, he didn't blame Crai's disgust with him. He looked like some sort of suicidal emo teen. He was disgusted with himself.

Then Crai's words clicked in his head, connecting the dots with previous events. "You're the ralts. The one that wasn't immediately scared of me."

 _"Wow, you are sharp."_ Crai's mental voice was surprised and impressed. _"That's right. I was one of Aspen's starter prospects for you. You impressed me with your outlook. So positive, all the time. You were an optimist, despite-no, because of all the things that had happened to you. The only part of you I didn't like was your aura. What changed that?"_

"You're a psychic, you tell me." Finn sighed and leaned forwards, taking a comb out of a drawer under the counter. He had been here so long, a couple months at least, he had already fully unpacked his bag. Using the mirror as reference, Finn began to comb his hair.

 _"Well, I'd like to, but your mind is impervious. I can't take anything you don't give."_ Crai shrugged. _"Which means that I'll have to weasel it outta you the old fashioned way. When did you start being depressed?"_

"Depressed…" Yes, that was the right word for it, wasn't it? Finn wasn't a stranger to depression, but that didn't make it more familiar each time he experienced it. It did explain quite a lot, though.

"When I got this." Belle spoke quietly, but clearly enough to be heard. She gestured to the ugly scar on her chest, a reminder of the horn drill attack that would never really go away.

 _"So you couldn't protect your Pokémon?"_ Crai raised an eyebrow, or whatever the kirlia equivalent was.

"That's not it," Finn muttered. "No, it was before that. I let my team down. We lost because I underestimated him."

Belle furrowed her brow. "The battle with Darrell."

Finn took a deep breath and let it out. He thought long and hard, then nodded. "Yes. I shouldn't have underestimated him. I should've been smarter."

 _"Hmm..."_ Crai placed a hand on his chin. He glanced at Belle. _"Mind if I borrow a memory?"_

Belle shook her head, then winced at some unseen pain.

 _"Oh, I see. You're upset because he cheated."_

Finn's head shot up. "What?"

 _"He cheated. Plain and simple. It's rather obvious, when you look at it. The roserade was out cold. The gliscor, whatshername, beat it in a single hit. Then it got back up."_ Crai waved his hands. _"It was holding an item. Musclehead here-,"_ the kirlia gestured at Belle, who snorted and glared at the small psychic type. _"Smelled it. She didn't know what it was, though. Some sort of chemical. Certainly wasn't natural."_

"So Darrell's roserade was holding a revival item…" Finn let out a breath. "And there are no league-allowed items that do anything like that. Heck, there are no known items that a Pokémon can hold that revives them once they're out."

 _"Which means that Darrell was working with an inventor. Like that asshole, with the robot hand."_ Belle shot Crai a glare at this intrusion, but the kirlia ignored her.

"By Arceus…" Finn gasped, his eyes widening. If Darrell had mentioned being invited to a group, but Finn had assumed it was some secret society. If Crai was correct, then Darrell had been inducted into Team Plasma.

 _"Hey, what do you know! Your depression has evaporated!"_ Crai seemed surprised. _"Now you're much more tolerable to be around."_

Right, the ralts family sensed emotions. That explained rather a lot. Finn turned to look at the diminutive psychic type. "Thank you. I didn't even realize I had an issue until you shocked me into admitting it."

 _"Sometimes you need a little bit of tough love."_ The kirlia shrugged.

Finn smiled wryly. "Yes, sometimes you do."

 _"Good. Now then, when are you going to attempt the ground type gym again? I want to see what kind of asshat uses horn drill in a gym battle."_ Crai said this last with genuine anger.

"Then you're going to stick around?" Finn raised an eyebrow.

 _"Well yeah. Otherwise I'll wind up with a migraine."_

"One second." Finn stepped out of the bathroom and picked up his Pokédex from his bedside table. He raised it and scanned Crai with the device.

[Kirlia]

[Emotion Pokémon]

[Type: Psychic/Fairy]

[Ability: Trace. This Pokémon's amorphous form allows it to mimic the ability of its opponent.]

[Gender: Male]

[Kirlia are known for their ability to sense the emotions of their trainers. It is said that when a kirlia's trainer is happy, it gains more energy. Kirlia are able to use their psychic ability to gaze into the future and distort reality, making them far more powerful than they first appear.]

Finn opened the bedside table and pulled out a Pokéball. He raised it up and held it out. "Well, here we are."

 _"About time."_ Crai stepped forwards and pressed his hand against the ball, vanishing in red light to enter the Pokéball. The Pokéball immediately clicked, letting Finn know that it had properly connected to its occupant. Finn pressed the button, and Crai emerged from the sphere.

"Alright then, that's six out of six." Finn smiled, then paused. "Wait, how are we going to introduce you to the other four?"

 _"Oh, they already know. I just disabled them so they couldn't barge in,"_ Crai happily stated.

The next thing Finn knew, a pair of swords was chopping through the door.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So, I was struck by the motivation fairies. I was just frustrated that they waited until I had already finished the previous chapter to find me. I wound up writing this in a single day.**

 **As for Finn's depression, he has plenty of reason to be. Everything he tries fails, sooner or later. It's not the most stereotypical representation of depression, but at the same time everyone experiences it differently. It's not all crying and locking yourself away. Sometimes it's just rejecting the truth and thinking yourself into a downwards spiral. It's still unpleasant though.**

 **Craitarot, pronounced cry-t-air-oh, is a name I just randomly thought up. It does have some meaning, however. Tarot are cards that are often used for prophetic purposes, to look to the future. In reality it's mostly just mumbo-jumbo, but Tarot is still interesting. Crai has this name because he looks at the future. Sometimes.**

 **As always, please leave me a review to let me know what you think.**

 **Now read on!**


	25. Interlude: Palindrome

The gym in Teret City wasn't exactly unique. Yes, it was placed within the Pokémon ranger headquarters; but many gyms in Toreta were part of their home city's important buildings. Skolar's library was the perfect example: the library was easily the center of the city, was home to the psychic type gym leader, and was filled with oddities. Geistom's gym was in the tomb of the priests of Arceus. Ephar's gym was its famous gardens.

But the gym was Ada's, and she wouldn't change a thing.

Sure, it was pretty average. But it was the normal type gym. Average was to be expected. It was still a test of a trainer's abilities, in the best possible way. Any trainer that completed the Teret gym could be easily expected to at least survive until they got to the next city. That was the point, really.

Except that, today, it was broken.

"Can anyone tell me why nothing is working?" Ada asked, looking around with her hands on her hips. "The rolling log has stopped, the quiz computers are freaking out, the maze is a straight line, and the mud has dried up." She shook her head as her gaze swept across the massive training room. "That's not even mentioning the fact that the ropes course has been cut, the iced floors have thawed, and the bramble thicket's dead."

Indeed, the whole room was in great disrepair. All of the training equipment was broken or destroyed, or at the very least rendered useless. It was downright infuriating.

"I dunno how it happened," One of the rangers said, scratching the back of his head. "One minute, everything's running fine. The next, poof! All broken."

Ada sighed. "Alright, I'll get to work on fixing it."

Grumbling to herself about the faulty wiring, Ada walked across the room to take a closer look at the once-maze. It was usually controlled by a trio of diggersby, but it clearly wasn't under their control right now. It should've been a winding maze, but instead it was just a path with two dirt walls on either side.

Ada walked around the maze to the trapdoor hidden next to it. After removing the dirt that was covering the door, she lifted it, climbing down the ladder into the basement below.

The diggersby that controlled the maze lived directly below it, spending all of their time in the basement floor. They were more than happy to do so, too. They were well-fed, permitted to leave at any time, given things to do, and almost pampered by the rangers. It was basically a dream job for the rabbits.

Except that all three of them were now standing in one corner, staring at her.

"What in the…?" Ada muttered, stepping closer. She glanced around the basement level, noting with surprise that there was a tunnel in one wall. Not a diggersby tunnel, either. A human sized, human-made tunnel. As she looked, a man wearing a concealing outfit decorated with a teal P walked into the basement, humming to himself. "Hey! What're you doing down here?!"

The man jumped in surprise, then cursed. He muttered in Kalosian for a moment, then raised his hand.

Immediately, Ada felt a pinching sensation on the back of her mind. She only had a fraction of a second to think.

Then the world descended into darkness.


	26. Determination

Determination.

To some, it's just a word. A descriptor used when talking about someone who has achieved success. A word used to describe someone who has been through great hardship.

But it's more.

Determination means that you do not give up, even when success seems impossible. It is through sheer determination that battles are won or lost. Pokémon can remain in a fight long after they should be down for the count, if they have enough determination. With enough sheer willpower, just about anything is possible.

And doesn't that just fill you with determination?

* * *

The doors slid open before Finn, a blast of dry air meeting him as he entered the gym. The sandy floors of the gym shifted slightly as the artificial wind blew out of the building. Finn took a deep breath and began to walk forwards.

The receptionist glanced up at him, then waved him along. He'd been in here enough times to be easily recognizable to the receptionist.

Finn continued along, hiking his way to the arena that he knew Trinity would be waiting at. It wasn't like she had anything else to do. He quickly reached the arena, and as he expected the gym leader was there, with a smirk on her face.

"So, you ready to be pounded into the dust again?" Trinity jeered.

"No. I'm ready to try again," Finn replied calmly. He lifted a Pokéball in his left hand.

"Hah! As if you have a chance!" Trinity laughed mockingly. She grabbed a Pokeball and tossed it onto the field. "Whiscash."

"Alright, Bastion, let's go!" Finn tossed the Pokéball in his hands, releasing the diminutive mareanie onto the battlefield.

"You know the drill, whiscash: use sandstorm."

"Bastion, toxic, then toxic spikes!"

Bastion immediately fired the spike atop his head at the whiscash, embedding the poisonous projectile in the whiscash's rubbery skin. He immediately followed up by shaking his head violently, causing spikes to shoot all over the battlefield. The mareanie had to jump to the side to avoid a fissure that was snaking along the ground, only barely managing to avoid the lethal move. Finn gritted his teeth at the sight of yet another illegal move, but there was nothing he could do.

"Now, use venoshock!" Finn directed.

The mareanie grinned evilly and began to secrete a poison out of the spikes on his head. With a violent shake, the toxin soared through the air and hit the whiscash, sizzling its skin. Bastion made to repeat the move, only to suddenly widen his eyes and fall over.

"What?!" Finn sputtered in confusion.

"Future sight, kid." Trinity grinned. "Whiscash can learn it."

"Bastion, return." Finn recalled the mareanie, then pulled out his next Pokéball. "Jitters, your turn!"

The joltik entered the field in a frenzy, immediately jumping towards the whiscash. As rehearsed, Jitters latched himself onto the whiscash and dropped the ring target he was carrying, then immediately let out a discharge of built-up electricity. With a moan, the whiscash collapsed to the ground.

"You little rat," Trinity spat, recalling her whiscash. "Krookodile!"

A huge red reptile appeared on the battlefield, its black patterns making it appear to be wearing sunglasses. The krookodile let out a fearsome roar and charged Jitters, its stomps causing the ground to shake. Jitters quickly began to fire off pin missiles, hitting the reptile with supereffective bug type moves. The range offered to the joltik was useful, but probably not enough to take the krookodile down.

Thus, both trainers were surprised when Jitters managed to incapacitate the dark/ground type before it could even land a hit.

"What the hell?" Trinity muttered, just barely loud enough for Finn to hear. "Fine. Claydol!"

The krookodile vanished in a flash of red light, only to be replaced by a floating statue. The many eyes on the clay statue blinked at differing intervals as it slowly rotated in midair. It raised one of the earthen nubs that it had for hands, and a massive outcropping of rock shot out of the ground, hitting Jitters. The Joltik screeched in pain as he went flying into the air, and the claydol took psychic hold of him, flinging him back down with a thud.

"Jitters, return!" Finn recalled the bug type, swapping the Pokéball for the next. "Alright, Crai, you're up!"

Crai hit the battlefield lightly, his feet barely even kicking up dust as he landed. The kirlia smirked as he looked at his opponent. A psychic conversation was clearly occurring between the two psychic types, but there was no way that Finn or anyone else could listen in. Crai suddenly jumped into the air, leaves appearing like magic around him. The kirlia floated in the air for a fraction of a second before firing the bladed leaves at his opponent, the grass type attack slicing through the claydol's shell.

"I'm not dealing with this. Claydol, explosion!" Trinity commanded.

The claydol made a strange noise, like it was upset, then began to spin. It steadily gained more and more speed with its rotations, energy beginning to leak from the cracks in its body. With a final cry, its body detonated, releasing the energy onto Crai. The lifeless claydol hit the ground, followed shortly by an unconscious Crai.

Finn felt rage bubbling inside of himself. Explosion? Really? That move hurt the Pokemon that used it even more than it did the enemy! It wasn't technically an illegal move, but it was heavily frowned upon by the League.

"Crai, return." Finn raised the kirlia's Pokeball, recalling him. He brought out his next Pokeball, ready for whatever Trinity could bring to bear against him. "Athena, you're up!"

"Golurk! Destroy them!"

The two ghost types appeared on the battlefield, both ready for battle. Athena unsheathed her blades and immediately dropped her sheath, using autotomize to increase her speed. With her enhanced speed, she launched forwards, her blades trailing dark energy. Both of Athena's blades slashed into the golurk's body, causing it to stagger backwards under her assault. She quickly followed up with another night slash, then used a shadow claw to try and finish the job.

Except that the golurk vanished into the ground.

Athena cast about for the golem, trying to locate it before it could land its strike. She was too late, though, as the massive titan rose out of the ground to land a solid punch on her blades. With that single, incredibly strong strike, Athena was incapacitated.

"Athena, return! Nyx, you're up!" Finn was getting desperate now. This was by far the best he'd ever done against Trinity, and he wasn't about to surrender. "Just use night slash!"

Nyx appeared with the normal flash of light and immediately hurled herself forwards. With her claws trailing shadowy energy, she sliced at the golurk, sending it flying backwards with the force of a critical hit.

"Golurk, return." Trinity was seething. Even from across the battlefield, Finn could see a vein bulging on her forehead. "You're really pushing your luck, kid. Mamoswine!"

A huge boar-like creature appeared, its huge tusks jutting far from its face. The huge mamoswine roared and reared up on its hind legs, slamming its forelegs into the ground. Immediately, ice began to spread across the battlefield. The ice began to create pillars, rising into the air before growing icicles. With another ground slam, the ice began to fall haphazardly, forcing Nyx to jump around randomly. She couldn't keep it up forever, though, as it wasn't too long before an icicle speared through her abdomen and pinned her to the ground.

"Nyx, return!" Finn quickly recalled the gliscor before Trinity could do any more damage. Putting the Pokéball on his belt, he grabbed his last Pokéball. "Alright, Belle! You're up!"

Belle emerged from the Pokéball at a dead sprint, dashing at the mamoswine with her hands balled into fists. She immediately launched herself forwards and began to pummel the ice type, using power up punch repeatedly in order to defeat the much larger Pokémon. The mamoswine was unconscious by the fifth hit.

"Mamoswine, return!" Trinity was almost shouting, her anger steaming off of her. Even from the other side of the battlefield, Finn could almost feel it roiling through the air. The pokeball in Trinity's hands squeaked just a tiny bit as her hand clenched in anger, but she put it on her belt and grabbed the last of six. "Tremor! End her!"

Tremor entered the battlefield already running, swinging its arms as it charged up an attack. On its third step, the rhyperior hurtled forwards, spinning in a horn drill aimed straight for Belle's heart. The machamp immediately swatted her opponent out of the air, sending Tremor to crash into the ground off to one side. Belle followed up by raising all four arms and slamming them into the ground, sending a shockwave through the sand that caused the rhyperior to sink by an almost imperceptible margin.

But it wasn't nearly enough to end the fight. Tremor climbed back to its feet and stomped the ground, causing the earth to shake. Belle leaped off of the ground, soaring through the air towards her rock-type foe. With a carefully executed low kick, she knocked Tremor to the ground once more, slamming the rhyperior in the back with a power up punch as she went past. When Tremor rose once more, she hit it with yet another power up punch followed by a second bulldoze.

Then it turned around.

Tremor rose to its feet for a third time and roared, stomping the ground further. It was clear that it wasn't just destroying the ground with earthquake; the rhyperior was using fissure.

Finn felt his blood grow cold. Rhyperior didn't learn fissure naturally. They didn't learn it through any training or TM. They couldn't inherit the move from a parent either. There were some moves that a Pokémon could teach itself, through enough practice in trying an otherwise impossible move, but fissure was not one of them. None of the lethal moves were.

Belle didn't seem to care, though. She leaped over the chasm in the ground and pegged Tremor in the chest with another power up punch. The massive rock-type retaliated by pulling one of its hollow arms back and slamming it forwards, into Belle's stomach. The machamp didn't even flinch, but the purple liquid dripping from the rhyperior's hand alerted Finn that the attack was much more than a simple punch. Tremor used poison jab with its other arm, quickly using alternating blows to push Belle back.

Then the rhyperior took a single step back and launched itself forwards, spinning through the air in an attempt to end Belle's life.

Belle didn't have enough time or preparation to stop the horn drill, instead grabbing the rhyperior as it began to bore through her chest. She grunted in pain, but started to punch the rhyperior, forcing it to stop its lethal attack through sheer strength. The massive gash across Belle's chest began to close, the punches earlier revealing their nature as drain punches. Belle took a couple steps forwards and slammed a punch into the rhyperior's chest, causing its stone skin to crack under the force of her blow.

Tremor collapsed to the ground, leaving Belle standing with her chest heaving from the exertion. Drain punches had healed the absolute worst of the horn drill, but she still had most of the skin on her chest mangled into a bloody mess.

"We win," Belle said simply, still panting.

"Good battle, Trinity," Finn called across the battlefield. In truth, it had been anything but, but to sink to that level was to be no better than she was.

"What makes you think it's over?" Trinity snarled.

Without warning, Tremor rose to its feet and slammed its hand into Belle's chest, the toxins from the poison jab mixing with her blood and surely poisoning her. Belle stumbled back a step and swayed, raising her arms in a weak bid to attack. She took one step forwards.

Then collapsed.

"Belle!" Finn shouted, his eyes wide. He quickly raised the masterball and recalled her, hoping that the stasis of the Pokéball would keep her stable until he could get her to a Pokémon center. The healing machine might not be enough to help her; it hadn't been enough last time she had been horn drilled.

Finn immediately took off, running out of the gym as fast as he could. Behind him he could hear Trinity laughing. "That's right, run off!"

He didn't care to listen. All that mattered was making sure Belle survived. Finn ran through the street to the Pokémon center and barged in the front door, dashing up to the main counter. "Nurse Joy!"

The pink-haired nurse turned towards him and smiled. "Hello, Finn! How can I-," She cut herself off, taking in his pale face and panicked expression. "Oh no, you were challenging Trinity again, weren't you…"

"Please. Belle, she's poisoned." Finn held out the master ball, his hand shaking.

Nurse Joy took the Pokéball and set it on the healing machine. She pursed her lips at the readout and shook her head. "I need to take her in for extensive care, like last time. She has neurotoxin in her bloodstream, and it looks like she's been hit with another horn drill. One day, I swear Trinity will pay for hurting all of these poor Pokémon." Nurse Joy took the master ball off of the machine and placed it into a tray off to one side. "Put the others on the counter, I'll handle them for you once she's stable."

As Nurse Joy took the tray and walked into a room in the back, Finn removed his Pokéball belt and placed it on the counter. With a heavy sigh, he turned and walked over to a couch set into the wall, sitting down.

Trinity cheated. She cheated hard. She cheated blatantly. But most importantly, she cheated using Talos serum. It was the only possible explanation. Belle could use moves like drain punch, despite the fact that no machamp ever recorded could use the move. Not only that, but she had continued to fight through a horn drill. In order to match that sort of raw power, Trinity would have to use the same methods of empowering her Pokémon: using an experimental drug designed to make normal Pokémon into legendaries. She certainly didn't reach that level of strength through dedication and love; her treatment of her claydol showed that much.

Not only that, but Trinity had to be a part of team Plasma. Sebastian, one of the employees at the gym, was a Plasma member, after all. And Finn could distinctly remember the fragment of memory he had accidentally stolen through Athena's soul siphon. The woman who had been speaking was Trinity, and she wanted Finn out of the picture. More specifically she wanted Belle out of the picture.

And if Trinity was a part of team Plasma, then there was a chance - no, a certainty, that she had been enhanced with Pokémon DNA, just as Cyril, Dua, and Renard had been. No normal human could damage a Pokéball, even by deliberately trying to smash it with a rock. They were made that way because trainers often got into trouble, and if the Pokéballs were fragile they would break all the time. Yet Trinity had clearly damaged her Pokéball with nothing more than her bare hand.

Someone walked up next to him and sat down. Finn glanced over, taking in cowboy boots, a ten-gallon hat, and a clean-shaven but haggard face. The middle-aged man sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry about that."

"About what?" Finn asked bitterly. "You didn't do it."

"No, but I didn't prevent it, either." The man shook his head. "You were quite hopeful when you first came into the gym. But the look on your face when you left? It was a look of determination. I should've come up to you then and given you the badge."

Finn sat up straight and looked at him closer. After a moment, he raised an eyebrow. "You were the guy who didn't want me to challenge the gym, right? Terrance?"

"That's me." Terrance nodded, taking his hat off. He ran a hand through his thinning hair and sighed.

"So what's the deal with giving me the badge?" Finn asked.

"Trinity cheats," Terrance spat, ire evident in his voice. "She cheats, doesn't obey League regulations, and she kills the Pokémon of the people who get close to beating her. The League knows all this."

"So why don't they remove her?"

"Can't." Terrance shook his head. "In order to replace a gym leader, you need to find a replacement who can match them in battle with their own type. Damn stupid rule, but it's tradition." Terrance curled his lip in disdain, shaking his head again. "So the League went around Trinity. There're technically two gyms here in Vernac, both capable of handing out the persistence badge. There's the one everyone knows about, that Trinity's got her fingers in, and then there's mine."

"You're a gym leader?" Finn's eyes widened in surprise at this. Terrance had been an employee in Trinity's gym when Finn first arrived in Vernac. To find out he was actually a gym leader was shocking.

"Sure am. I mostly just give the badges out to them who've braved Trinity a couple times. No reward without determination, after all." Terrance shrugged. "It keeps Trinity from wondering why nobody bothers to rematch, and it allows trainers to get the badge without resortin' to stealin'."

"Wait." Finn furrowed his brow. "If you could hand out the badge at any time, why didn't you come forward before now? Why not when Trinity's goon tried to steal my Pokémon? Or when she nearly _killed_ Belle?"

"I get it, you're angry." Terrance sighed. "I'm sorry. Should've come forward well before then, but I was scared. Plasma've got their grubby fingers all the way into Vernac town, and it hurts. I've had to be extra careful not to arouse suspicion, lately. Some of N's faithful help, but they're few and far between. The problem, though, is that they hate you in particular."

"But _why_?"

"Hell if I know." Terrance shrugged. He reached into a pocket in his jeans and pulled out a metal token shaped like a mountain. In the center of the mountain was a stylized red heart, as though the mountain was alive. "Take the badge. You've more than earned it. And, uh," Terrance patted his vest pockets, eventually locating and producing a disk. "Take the TM for earthquake. You can't use it in gym battles 'till you've got six badges, but it should help before then."

Finn took the disk and put it into his bag, then took the badge. He clenched his fist around the small metal token, feeling the edges dig into his palm. "Thanks. I guess."

"Wish I'd acted sooner. Wish I could do more." Terrance stood, putting his hat back on. "Best of luck to you, Finn. When you see Dracul or Lorenzo, let them know I said hi."

With that, the true gym leader of Vernac town walked out the door.

Finn sat in the Pokémon center lobby for a while, mulling his thoughts around. A traitorous gym leader, team Plasma, project Talos, and a League-planted man to make sure that trainers can actually succeed at something. Vernac was one messed-up town.

Eventually, Finn heard someone walking up to him. He glanced up to see Nurse Joy. "Finn, Belle's in a stable condition. You can come see her now."

Finn stood and glanced around. He realized suddenly that he had been sitting there for hours, not even noticing the time pass. It was well into nighttime, now, and he had gone to challenge Trinity in the morning.

Nurse Joy led Finn into the medical bay, taking him to the room housing Belle. At the sight of her, his breath caught in his throat.

Belle was sleeping, which Finn supposed was a blessing in and of itself. Her chest was still a mess, even though it was clean now. Muscle showed through spots where the skin had been torn away, and in the center there was bone visible. It wasn't any worse than the last time he had brought Belle in here, but the poison made everything worse. Her breath was rattling in her chest as she inhaled and exhaled, and the skin and muscle was pale and diseased.

But she was stable, and she would recover. She had already recovered from so much.

"Thank you," Finn said quietly.

"I'll leave you here with her," Nurse Joy replied, just as quietly. She turned and walked out of the room, silently closing the door behind her.

Finn sat down in a chair next to the bed, watching Belle's chest go up and down. He took one of Belle's hands and gently squeezed, relieved when she unconsciously squeezed back.

He fell asleep in that position, several hours later.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Yes, that was an Undertale reference.**

 **Meet Terrance, the _real_ gym leader of Vernac Town. It was probably pretty obvious that Trinity had connections to Team Plasma, but now I've flat-out stated it. She's a bad, bad person, and she's nearly killed Belle now. Twice.**

 **Terrance is the name Terrence with an A instead of an E. It's still a valid spelling for the same name, but now it has 'Terra' in it.**

 **As always, please review to let me know what you think!**

 **Now read on!**


	27. A 'Divine' Edict

How will the world end?

Some people believe that the world will end with a viral outbreak. A super disease that sweeps across the planet and either mutilates or kills anyone it infects. Such diseases are entirely within the grasp of human technology, which is part of what makes them all the more terrifying.

Others think that the world will end due to something from outer space. An alien invasion that ends with humanity's extinction, or a meteor large enough to cause the planet to fall apart. These ideas are not without merit, as there exist stones in space that are more than large enough to completely tear the planet apart. Similarly, it is entirely possible that there are other forms of life in the universe, and that they have advanced enough technology to both come to our planet and destroy it.

Still others believe that humanity's downfall will be slow. That we will die out due to our laziness and failure to adapt to situations.

Almost everyone agrees that the planet itself will be destroyed when the sun begins to die.

But the most likely outcome is that we will destroy ourselves. That our vast arsenals of weaponry will be used on each other, for one petty reason or another. Nuclear missiles will destroy cities, chemical weapons will demolish ecosystems, and all that will be left will be dust and destruction.

The view now was a perfect example of this.

Finn could feel his body failing. Every breath hurt. Blinking took an incredible amount of effort. It was almost easier to keep his eyes closed.

Athena was dead. Trinity had literally snapped her blade in two. Without a whole blade, Athena had quickly lost her energy and died.

Nyx and Jitters were dead. Both of them were killed by the same explosion, trying desperately to help Finn get away. They had died together.

Bastion had died to the radiation from the nukes. Regeneration could not save him from a brain tumor.

Crai had lasted the longest only because he could change his physiology. It hadn't been enough, though. Eventually his body was so riddled with tumors and infection that even his amorphous nature couldn't save him.

Belle had been killed well before then, by an illegal move followed by an underhanded poisoning.

And now Finn was nearing his end. Both naturally and from the radiation poisoning. He was fairly certain that he had multiple tumors in his vital organs, but the real pain came from his lack of energy. It was part of his genetic condition more than radiation poisoning; it was nearly impossible to get the pills he needed to stave it off. There weren't any Pokémon still living, so getting most of the components was impossible, and he could barely move anyways.

It was funny. Even though ghost types were always the longest-lived creatures, they had died out before humans. They were more susceptible to radiation poisoning. The same applied to just about all Pokémon, even the poison types. Having a natural immunity to toxins didn't help with gamma radiation.

Finn closed his eyes for what he felt was the last time and exhaled. It didn't matter anymore. He had tried, and he had failed. Belle's death was just the first domino in the sequence that led to this fate.

"You should be glad. This has absolutely no chance of happening, now. The machamp is stable, and set to recover fully."

Time seemed to freeze, and Finn could feel the weight of pain lifting off of his chest. Shaking his head, Finn rose to his feet and looked around. The world was beginning to fade out, being replaced by a bland grey nothingness that stretched into infinity.

"That's all these visions really are. Possibilities. The first showing you what would happen if you never left, the third what would happen if you stayed depressed. Now this is if you machamp were to die." An old seeming man appeared out of the void, walking towards Finn. His black robe swept around his feet as his blue eyes bore into Finn. "Of course, the second vision is still possible. That one's always on the brink of existence. If you succeed, it won't happen. If you fail, it will. Simple as that."

"Who are you?" Finn asked. "I know you're not part of my imagination. None of this is."

"You tell me, kid." The man shrugged. "You're smart. Figure it out."

Finn mulled it over in his mind for a bit, trying to connect the dots. He snapped his fingers. "You only appear in nightmares. You're Darkrai."

"And he gets it in one." Darkrai nodded approvingly. "I've been searching for you for a _long_ time, kid."

"Why me, though?" Finn asked, confused. "I have a crippling condition that I need to take medicine for, I'm having a hard enough time just taking care of my Pokemon, and Team Plasma keeps trying to kill me. What makes me special?"

"You want the truth? Nothing." Darkrai shrugged nonchalantly. "You're actually the _last_ person we wanted. There are hundreds of trainers out there that I'd rather be plaguing with prophetic nightmares. But you're just the kid in the wrong place at the wrong time. There are two better candidates, actually. But the first is a kid who's far too idealistic and naïve, and the other has already been compromised."

A melodious voice echoed through the void, its tone chastising and calm. "Darkrai, you're scaring him."

"Eh, shut up Moony." Darkrai waved dismissively.

Another person appeared in the void, a woman who had an ageless quality. She looked as though she was a young woman, but she simultaneously looked like she had been alive for far longer than any human being. She sighed at Darkrai's flippancy. "We need him to succeed if we are to preserve the world."

"Wait, wait, wait." Finn waved his hands to get their attention. "So, what I'm getting here is that Darkrai-," he pointed at the man. "And I'm guessing you're Cresselia-," Finn pointed at the woman with his other hand. "Are here to deliver a prophecy. Is that about right?"

"Yes."

"Hell no."

Both legendaries looked at each other, and Cresselia sighed. "Not… technically."

"It's more of an… edict." Darkrai added, shrugging. "Moony tells me the future, I tell you what you need to do."

"So… why has it taken five separate nightmares for you to finally tell me this?" Finn asked, looking back and forth at the two legendary Pokémon.

"Because bureaucracy sucks, and there are rules to interacting with mortals." Darkrai shook his head. "Did you know that it takes _years_ for us to even decide to act on a world-destroying prophecy? All because the great god above thinks that humans can handle it themselves."

"We weren't even allowed to present ourselves to you until it'd been a year after your first nightmare," Cresselia added apologetically.

"Wait, it's been a _year?!_ " Finn sputtered in surprise.

"Yup, and you've only got another year before the world goes to hell." Darkrai nodded. "At least it won't be nukes or undead roaming around, just Pokémon/human hybrids and Team Plasma goons." The legendary paused. "But I'm sure I don't need to tell you about the time limit."

"No, you don't," Finn muttered angrily. He glared at the legendaries. "What exactly are you here to tell me?"

"You want to, or should I?" Darkrai glanced at Cresselia. The psychic-type shook her head, gesturing for Darkrai to continue. "Alright then, this'll be confusing as all hell, but that's the only way that Arceus lets us tell humans about the future." Darkrai cleared his throat. "From one came two, and the two must act as one. Yet should two once more become one, the world shall come undone."

Finn just stood there, glaring at Darkrai. "Is that supposed to _mean_ anything, or just be gibberish?"

"Yes and yes." Darkrai shrugged. "It's the rules. Can't tell you what it means. I can tell you, though, that you need to locate the King of Team Plasma. He's wandering Toreta at the moment, and he should be able to help you out."

"Great. So I need to decipher a meaningless prophecy, find the king of the team that's trying to kill me, and I need to do it within a year. Anything else?" Finn crossed his arms.

"Oh, yeah, don't let your Pokemon die. And help the old Gallade when he asks for you to help. That should be enough." Darkrai waved. "Bye!"

Then the whole world vanished.

* * *

Finn woke with a jolt, his eyes snapping open as he looked around the room. He felt awfully sore, and had something digging into his left hand, but otherwise he was fine. His right hand was wrapped around one of Belle's three-fingered hands, and he realized that it was her that had awoken him.

Belle wasn't thrashing, but she was far from calm in her sleep. She was continually mumbling, and occasionally her arms or legs would twitch with some remembered pain. Sweat poured down her face. It was probably extremely fortunate that she healed quickly, otherwise the tensing of her muscles would likely have ripped them apart. It was just another thing that Talos had done to her.

"No… no…" Belle mumbled, her head shaking. It was clear to Finn that something in her nightmare was scaring her. He couldn't help but wonder what it could be.

"Belle," Finn whispered. "It's okay, I'm here. You're not going back."

At Finn's words Belle's eyes fluttered open. She looked at him, clearly out of it. "Finn…?"

"I'm here," Finn soothed, gently squeezing her hand.

"Did we win?" Belle asked weakly.

Finn opened his left hand, looking down at the badge within. That was right, he hadn't even put it away. He smiled. "Yes, yes we did."

"That's good." Belle closed her eyes, her breathing slowing.

Finn was just glad that she had healed most of the way already. She would have to take it easy for a week or so, because rigorous activity could cause her healing muscles to tear, but otherwise she was fine. Her ribs had healed back into position, and though the scar on her chest was even uglier than before it was healed over.

The ribs were the real problem. Healing machines couldn't heal bone properly, meaning that they had to be set and healed naturally. With broken ribs, it was especially important, otherwise you could wind up with a rib permanently sticking into a lung. It was still possible to use a healing machine on a Pokémon with broken bones, but the bones would have to be broken and re-set in order to heal properly.

It was also a blessing that the poison had left her system. It could have killed her, and in all likelihood it was meant to. Trinity was cruel, petty, and prideful. Finn had gotten her down to one Pokémon, and that had to sting at the gym leader's pride.

"Finn?" Belle's voice was quiet, nervous.

"Yes?" Finn looked over at the machamp, surprised that she was still awake.

"Why are you doing this for me?"

"I'd do it for any of the team," Finn answered immediately. "Athena, Jitters, Nyx, Bastion. Even Crai, despite the fact he only joined us recently."

"Why?" Belle asked. "Why give your own well-being for us?"

"Because I don't matter, really," Finn muttered. He shook his head. "Your health is far more important than mine."

"No, it's not," Belle protested. "We are your Pokémon. We should be the ones who bear the brunt, not you."

"Too many people think that way. That Pokemon should be hurt instead of us. They're wrong. You're just as human as I am, even if you weren't born one." Finn shrugged. "I'd rather keep you healthy at my own cost than let you suffer."

Belle was silent for a few moments. She gently squeezed Finn's hand, then slipped her fingers away. "Thank you."

Before anything else could be said, the door to the room opened and Nurse Joy poked her head in. "You're both awake. One second." The door slid closed once more and footsteps started away from the room. Less than a minute later the footsteps returned, and Nurse Joy opened the door again. This time she was pushing a cart with a Pokéball belt on it, five Pokéballs slotted inside. There were also a couple of plates and bowls of food sitting on the cart, presumably for Finn, Belle, or both of them. "I healed your Pokémon while you were sleeping."

"Thank you, Nurse Joy." Finn said gratefully, rising to his feet. He glanced around and quickly located his bag. After digging around for a moment, he located his badge case and snapped it open, slotting the persistence badge in its place.

Nurse Joy, meanwhile, was checking the diagnostics of the machines Belle was hooked up to. "I don't know how it's possible, but Belle has already healed significantly from the horn drill – but I'm sure you could already see that. What you can't see is that she's already recovered most of the blood lost, and her system is completely clear of the poison Trinity hit her with. And all that in the course of a night." Nurse Joy shook her head in astonishment. "I'd say she's clear to leave. Just make sure she doesn't battle or otherwise stress herself for three weeks. Understood?"

"Understood." Finn nodded. He grabbed his Pokéball belt off of the cart and put it on.

"You can let your Pokémon out. The food's for you and them." Nurse Joy informed, gently removing the various diodes and needles from Belle's skin. "Leave the big plate for Belle, though. It has medicine and the nutrients she'll need to heal properly and restore her missing blood."

Belle grunted as she sat up, rubbing the spot where one needle had been removed from her forearm. She gingerly stretched, testing her limits, and winced as soon as she tried to pull her arms back behind herself.

Finn grabbed Belle's plate and carried it over, passing it to her. As soon as the machamp had a secure grip on the plate, Finn tapped the release buttons on all of the Pokéballs on his belt. With the normal flashes of light, five more Pokémon appeared in the room. Nyx immediately made her way to the window and opened it, sitting on the sill with her tail dangling outside. Bastion appeared at the foot of Belle's bed, and was promptly kicked off by the machamp. Crai also appeared at the foot of Belle's bed, but unlike Bastion he was just out of Belle's easy reach. Jitters appeared on the floor, but quickly made his way up the leg of Belle's bed and sat next to her, chittering as he nuzzled against her. Athena was the last to appear, her gemstone eyes quickly analyzing the situation.

"Help." Bastion flailed around, stuck on his head. He had landed the wrong way up, and now he couldn't right himself.

Finn leaned over and picked Bastion up, setting the mareanie on the bedside chair. He walked back to the cart and quickly figured out which dish was for each Pokémon. Bastion's had bits of corsola in it, Nyx's was basically raw, and Jitters was getting a small bowl of berries. At first Finn had a bit of confusion when it came to Crai's meal, but he quickly figured out that Crai's meal had oran berries in it, while his own did not.

After handing out meals to his Pokémon, Finn took his own breakfast and sat down at the end of Belle's bed, next to Crai. The Kirlia glanced up from his meal. _"So Trinity tried to kill Belle again, huh?"_

"Yes she did," Finn answered. Nurse Joy gave him a glance, but then her eyes flickered to Crai and she disregarded it.

 _"Cheating scum."_ Crai shook his head as he picked a berry out of his bowl. _"This is why some Pokémon hate humans. Selfish, prideful people like her. It makes me sick."_

"Not all people are as bad as Trinity," Finn pointed out, taking a spoonful of cereal and eating it. "In fact, most just try to get along."

 _"But it's always the bad ones that manage to get to places like that. Where they can just bully everyone else."_ Crai shook his head. _"I've met maybe four humans that I think are worthy of that kind of position. The Professor, Nurse Joy, a nice green-haired kid I met on the way here to Vernac, and this weird dude with a dusknoir following him around. They were the only ones had selfless intentions."_

Finn raised an eyebrow. "And what do you think about me?"

Nurse Joy glanced at him again, then shrugged. "I'll just leave you to your conversation. Let me know when you're leaving." With that, the pink-haired nurse left the room.

 _"I can't read your mind, I don't know."_ The kirlia shrugged. _"For all I know, you're manipulating your Pokémon in order to take over the world. I just know that, for some reason, fate wanted me to be your Pokémon. And as I've said, defying my visions gives me an awful migraine."_

"I can vouch for Finn's motives," Athena stated calmly.

 _"Sure you can."_ Crai shrugged. Then the kirlia took a double-take. _"Wait, I wasn't broadcasting to you! How'd you hear that?"_

While Athena's physiology didn't allow her to shrug, she somehow managed a similar gesture. "I've been able to get snatches of Finn's awareness for a while now. Ever since I evolved it's just gotten easier. I can feel what he feels, hear what he hears, and see what he thinks, now."

 _"But, but, that's impossible!"_ Crai protested. _"I've tried to get into his mind, and it rejects me! It's like he's entirely immune to anything I try! His aura just causes mine to bounce right off when I try an auric link, and it confounds my psionics when I try anything more invasive than basic telepathy! How can you, a_ ghost _type, get in while I can't?"_

"If I knew, might have told you. As it is, I do not know. My species doesn't have the same invasive powers as some ghost types, like Gengar. We cannot bring information out of dreams even if we intrude upon them. Anything we learn is forgotten immediately upon the ending of the dream," Athena replied. "I could theoretically control Finn, but that doesn't tell me anything in his mind; and just about any powerful ghost type could do that anyways."

 _"No, I doubt it. Finn's aura would reject it."_ Crai shook his head. _"Hey Finn, have you ever had your mind invaded by a ghost type that forced you to do something?"_

"Once," Finn answered, putting his spoon down in his now empty bowl. He set the bowl on the cart Nurse Joy had brought in. "A spiritomb. Not much happened, but it made me move."

 _"Spiritomb… Mind if I borrow a memory, Blades?"_ Crai glanced over at Athena. _"Alright, thanks. Hmm… Oh. Oh damn. That thing is horrific. Athena could sense the dark aura of the thing. Holy Arceus above that is an oppressive aura. But I think I have an answer. It could only do anything to you because it had brute force on its side. It'd take a hundred or so separate minds acting on you to cause your aura to give, and that's exactly what happened."_

"Thank you, I was just getting over nightmares of that thing," Finn quipped calmly.

 _"But it helps prove my point. Athena can control you, as her memories suggest. At least, your right arm. That means that there's_ **something** _going on that isn't normal,"_ Crai continued. _"By all rights you should be dead, Finn. Athena should've killed you. But not only are you alive, but you're breaking just about every established rule when it comes to Pokémon/human interaction. Your aura makes you supposedly closed off and impossible to interact with, but your personality is open, you're able to communicate with your Pokémon in a way no human has before, and you've completely recovered the life in a dead limb."_

"We know this. We've all been over it every single time someone new shows up," Bastion complained, looking up from his meal. There were bits of corsola stuck to his face, as well as berry juice. "Finn's magic. That's my explanation."

 _"Please, everyone knows magic's not real."_ Crai snorted. _"Especially not for ordinary humans. The closest we can get is psionics, fairy energy, ghost energy, dark energy, and aura. It's not magic, it's energy manipulation."_

"This conversation has gone absolutely nuts," Finn commented. He took Belle's empty plate as she offered it to him, then walked over to Bastion and stacked the mareanie's empty plate on top. Nyx put her plate on top of the stack, and Finn walked back over to the cart and put the stack of plates on top. "Things are strange. End of the story."

 _"Doesn't mean I don't want to figure it out,"_ Crai muttered. The kirlia levitated his bowl to the cart. _"I don't know too much about aura, but I do know that Finn isn't using his. He also isn't using psionics, or I'd sense it."_

"But it doesn't matter. What does matter is that things are the way they are, and we can't change it." Finn reached down and took Jitters' empty bowl, moving it to the cart. "We can just be glad that we can all understand each other. It's a lot more than most trainers get."

Finn bent over and picked up his bag, which the Pokémon took as the signal to get moving. Belle swung her legs off of the side of the bed and stood, picking Jitters up and bringing him with her. Crai just jumped down from the bed. Nyx pulled her tail back into the room and hopped down from the windowsill, balancing on her tail to reach up and close the window. She picked up Bastion on her way past. Athena attached herself to the back of Finn's bag, resuming her normal place. Once everyone was mobile, Finn grabbed the handlebar of the cart and pushed it out of the room, starting down the hallway.

He ran into Nurse Joy in the hallway. The pink haired nurse smiled as she greeted him. "Hello, Finn. Are you off now?"

"Yes, ma'am." Finn nodded.

"Where to?" Nurse joy asked. "Oh, and you can just leave the cart. I'll take care of it."

Finn let go of the cart's handlebar. "I'm going to Ephar City next."

"Well, good luck! Lorenzo is a fair gym leader, and he's always ready to lend a hand to a trainer in need." Nurse Joy took the cart and pulled it to the side of the hallway.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy." Finn smiled. "And thank you for letting me stay for the past several months."

"It's just part of the job," Nurse Joy replied. "You take care now!"

"You too." Finn nodded again and set off.

Leaving Vernac was far from as chaotic as entering. There was no fanfare, no Team Plasma ambush party, and most importantly no Trinity. Honestly, Finn was more than happy to leave the mining town behind. Terrance was nice, and the poor Nurse Joy who worked there had her hands full constantly, but Team Plasma just had too much of a grip on the town's infrastructure. Some day he would return, hopefully. And then, he would help to free the town of Plasma influence.

But there was something bothering him. Athena had said that she could basically read his mind, something that nobody else could do. Period. But… did that mean she knew? Everything? The complete extent of his genetic condition, the mission Darkrai had given him?

Finn's musings were ended when the ghost sword on his back whispered into his ear.

"I won't tell them. It's your secret."

All in all, it was probably for the best that Athena knew. She was by far the most levelheaded of his Pokémon. Nyx was emotional, Bastion would never take him seriously, Crai was as yet not entirely trustworthy, Jitters spooked easily, and Belle… well, she had enough to worry about. Athena could help him keep the secret.

All the way to the grave, if need be.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So, anyone who thought Darkrai was a good guy was correct! He's a bit flippant, but you would be too if you'd been in every single one of humanity's nightmares since the dawn of time. He's working with Cresselia, something neither of them is happy about. They're especially unhappy because the one they need to enlist for help is a sick kid with a birth defect and horrible luck.**

 **Also, prophecy. Or, not prophecy. Instructions, really. Arceus hates to give things to humans.**

 **No name origins today, because there are no new characters.**

 **As always, please leave a review to let me know what you think.**

 **Now read on!**


	28. Connections Restored and Tested

How do we grow relationships?

Well, the primary way is simple.

There's something called the mere exposure effect.

It's a simple enough concept. The mere exposure effect occurs when two people are in close proximity for any length of time. The more time you are exposed to another person, the more familiar and comfortable you are with them. This can be seen with family members, who you likely trust with just about everything. It can also be seen with friends. You trust your longtime friends more than new friends, regardless of their actual moral quality.

It makes sense, though. After spending more time with someone, you get to know them better. Even just being in the same general vicinity is enough to grow more familiar with another person.

The secondary way we grow relationships is through the sharing of interests.

Two people who both like the same books or both browse the same social media are far more likely to become friends than two people whose interests do not overlap at all.

But relationships are nigh impossible to break. They can weaken, but you will almost always remember them, and in this way we create a web of connections around the world.

* * *

While there were a great many things that could easily irritate people, Finn considered that the absolute highest thing on that list would probably be Bastion and Crai arguing.

And they argued over _everything_.

Just that morning, Crai and Bastion had argued about manners, which was fairly understandable. Bastion was usually rude and crude, while Crai was intellectual and cynical, quite the contrast between the two.

Then they had argued about the weather. Bastion liked when it was gloomy, damp, and chilly. He got sunburned quite easily, although it still healed within hours. Crai, on the other hand, preferred sunlight, warmth, and dryer air. Apparently his skin became sticky in the damp.

Then - the stupidest thing they had argued over by far – they had argued over the color of a _flower_. A simple little white daisy. And the stupidest part was that they were both _wrong_.

"I'm telling you, it was a red rose! A _red_ _rose_!" Bastion ranted.

 _"You have, what, three brain cells?"_ Crai retorted. _"You wouldn't know a rose if it bit you. It was clearly a tulip."_

Finn groaned and threw his head back. He had a great deal of patience for his Pokémon, and he loved them like family, but this was just excruciating. "Stop. It really doesn't matter."

 _"I must concur with Finnegan on this point. A petty argument over a flower is not worth spending energy on."_

Crai was immediately on his guard, releasing a pulse of psychic energy towards the source of the telepathic message. Almost immediately there was a retaliatory pulse of psychic power that Finn could _feel_ bouncing off of him. It was extraordinarily unnerving for him to feel an intangible force hitting his mind and deflecting.

 _"You are young, yet, Craitarot. You are talented and quite good at finding weak points, but not as skilled as you need to be to catch me off-guard."_ A tall figure walked out of the nearby foliage, brushing itself off.

 _"How do you know my name?"_ Crai raised his arms into a battle stance, his eyes lighting up with psychic energy.

 _"A simple matter of telepathy. Your defenses are lacking quite a lot."_ Rath turned to Finn. _"Greetings, Finnegan, Athena, and Jitters. I see you have evolved, Athena. That is good."_

"Hello Rath," Finn greeted, "What brings you this way?"

 _"I was looking for you, in fact. I have found something of great personal importance to you."_ Rath spoke gravely, his red eyes meeting Finn's hazel. _"But first, you need to know some things"_

O-O-O

"The most important part of fighting with two weapons is to remember that one of them is your primary and the other is your secondary," Master began, "Eventually you will learn how to use both equally, but first you must learn to use one blade primarily and the other one for defense."

 _"But Master, how should I decide which to be my primary?"_ he asked, unsure.

"It's quite simple Ratherian. You are right handed, correct?" Master raised an eyebrow.

 _"Yes, Master,"_ He answered.

"Then use your right hand."

O-O-O

 _"With that out of the way, we can get to business."_ Rath's mental voice grew grave. _"I found Harvest."_

"Who's Harvest?" Bastion asked, shooting a curious glance at Finn.

But he wasn't listening. Rath had found Harvest? How? Where was he? He stepped forwards and placed his hands on the gallade's shoulders. His voice hoarse, Finn spoke. "Where? Where is he?"

 _"In a plasma outpost situated about twenty minutes' walk that direction."_ Rath pointed out into the forest with one hand, gently removing Finn's hands with his other. _"I believe that, with your team by your side, we can raid the outpost and rescue the Pokémon trapped there, Harvest included."_

"Let's go." Finn turned towards where Rath had pointed and began to walk.

 _"Whoa, whoa, whoa,"_ Crai interrupted, teleporting in front of Finn. _"Why are you trusting this guy? Who's Harvest?"_

"I'm trusting Rath because without him I'd probably be dead. He taught me how to survive in a deadly situation, and how to take my attacker down at the same time. So far he's been nothing but helpful, which is a bit more than I can say about you. Now we're going to go rescue Harvest because he was the first Pokémon I caught, and he trusted me. I let him down, and I'm not going to do it again."

Finn's voice was cold, emotionless, yet Crai flinched. With a start, Finn remembered that kirlia could sense emotions. The emotional turmoil that Finn was experiencing was probably painful for the psychic type. Looking at Rath, the gallade was also wearing a somewhat strained expression. Both of the emotion-sensing Pokémon could feel Finn's bubbling anger and pain.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Finn closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. It just… hurts."

 _"Look, I get it. Losing someone hurts. I've never experienced it firsthand, but your pain is real. I'm sorry,"_ Crai said shamefully.

"It's not your fault. You couldn't have known." Finn took another deep breath and opened his eyes. Crai was looking at the ground in shame. He placed a hand on the diminutive Pokemon's shoulder and crouched, looking Crai in the eye. "I appreciate your attempts to keep me from making the same stupid decisions I've told you about, but I've learned my lesson. I trust Rath because he's given me reason to trust him."

Crai looked up at Finn, his eyes emotional for just a fraction of a second before hardening to his normal cynical glare. _"Right. Whatever. Let's go then."_

Finn rose, his brow furrowed. Shaking it off, he turned back to his Pokémon. "Nyx, I need you to carry Bastion and follow through the air. Belle, Crai, you two follow on foot. Jitters and Athena are with me. Rath-,"

 _"I shall be ahead."_ The gallade bowed, and when he was standing at full height once more he was a blur through the forest.

Finn immediately ran off after Rath, Athena attached to his bag-strap and Jitters clinging to his shoulder. Nyx swooped down from her circling glide, snatching Bastion up with her tail as she flew off over the forest. Belle started into the forest as well, her long loping strides covering ground with surprising speed, while Crai was running as fast as his legs could take him, periodically teleporting forwards to keep up.

Before his adventure began, Finn wasn't the kind of person who could run for more than five minutes top speed without collapsing in exhaustion. Over the past year, though, he had gotten a great deal more endurance and strength. Running for twenty minutes at top speed was not only possible now, but actually easy. Spending a year where he had to walk miles on a daily basis really did quite good for his physical fitness.

The minutes flew by as he dashed through the forest, the undergrowth slapping at his shins. He wasn't able to keep up with Belle's sheer power, or Rath's incredible speed, but at the same time he was keeping just ahead of Crai's teleport-skip.

Before Finn knew it, he came out of the treeline to see a clearing. It seemed like some sort of Plasma tradition to put their bases in forest clearings. Geistom, Vernac, and now this one. There were a surprising amount of grunts surrounding the building, most of them with actual firearms at their disposal.

On the fringes of the forest Finn saw a white and green shape poking out of the bushes. Rath looked over at Finn and nodded. Then the gallade was off in a blur of movement.

Finn looked at Crai. "Tell Nyx to use Bastion for a distraction."

Crai nodded then looked up at the circling gliscor, transmitting the psychic message. Finn knew when Nyx had started the distraction when Bastion fell from the sky, the mareanie screaming out a war cry. As humans do, the grunts looked around for the noise, none of them looking up. Their confusion was alleviated quickly, though, when the water type landed on the head of one grunt, causing him to scream in pain when Bastion sunk his spines in. Finn winced, hoping that the man wasn't poisoned too badly, but that was all he could hope for.

Now that Bastion had drawn their attention, Finn ran out of the forest. He quickly unsheathed Athena's blades, a battle strategy coming to him as if by instinct. Once he was close enough to the grunts, he slammed Athena's blades together, releasing a pulse of sound that caused the humans – and Bastion – to cry out in pain. Many of the plasmas dropped their weapons in order to cover their ears from the high-pitched noise. When they did so, Crai used his psychic powers to pick the firearms up and yank them out of reach.

Some of the more intelligent grunts hadn't dropped their weapons, though. One of them raised the assault rifle in his hands and pointed it at Finn, his finger compressing the trigger. Finn didn't even have to command Athena, simply vanishing into a shadow on the ground. The black blob of shadows on the ground shot across the ground, sliding through the grass like a serpent. In a moment, Finn rose from the ground and sliced upwards, destroying the gun. With a twirling motion, Finn's sword was at the grunt's neck.

Finn hesitated. He could, and logically _should_ , end the grunt right here. It would lessen Plasma's resources, put this criminal out of his misery, and make life easier for many people. Logically, he should follow through.

But he couldn't. He couldn't kill someone, even if they were a Plasma. Taking a deep breath, he pulled his blade away and glared at the grunt. "Get out of here."

The grunt just ran, not looking back or even dropping the remnants of his gun. Finn turned his attention to the other plasma grunts, noting with some satisfaction that the others were already disarmed by his Pokémon's skill and Rath's lightning movements. Guns were on the ground in tatters, and more than one Plasma grunt was slashed across the hamstring by Rath's newly-bloodied blades.

Finn hesitated at the sight of the blood and injured Plasmas, then shook it off. He turned his attention to the outpost. "Let's go."

He could almost sense the trepidation of his Pokémon, but Rath stepped up next to Finn. _"Good fighting. Your skill is growing quite quickly. But don't let your guard down. I sense something powerful inside the building. Powerful and angry."_

Finn nodded, then walked towards the outpost. His Pokémon followed after a moment, trailing Finn faithfully.

Rath looked at the locked doors and raised one arm, the skin changing shape and turning amorphous. With a jab, he pushed his now-amorphous arm into the gap between the doors. Grunting with the effort, Rath's arm turned into a blade, slicing the doors apart. The job complete, Rath's arm returned to its normal shape.

Gesturing for Finn to follow, Rath walked into the building. Almost immediately they reached a T-intersection, and Rath pointed down one corridor. _"Go that way. I'll go this way. Make as little noise as possible."_

Then the gallade was gone, not making a sound as he vanished. Finn turned to go down the other path, pausing for a moment to look at his Pokémon. Bastion and Nyx seemed to have remained outside, but Crai and Belle were here with him. Jitters was still in his hair, and of course Athena was in his hands. His worries assayed, he walked down the corridor with stealth he didn't realize he had. It seemed that Belle and Crai got the message, because the former was padding silently while the latter was walking on feet that seemed to absorb sound.

Finn continued until he found a corridor lined with containment cells. He glanced at the glass viewing windows and almost shouted at what he saw inside. Pokémon, wild Pokémon, stuck in these cages with no chance of escape.

"Crai, tell them to remain calm. I'm getting them out." Finn walked to the master control panel, tapping on the touchscreen. After a moment, he shook his head. "Jitters, I need you to fry the locks. Belle, start forcing doors. I'll keep any Plasmas away."

Jitters leaped off of Finn's head to land on one of the doors, letting out a jolt of electricity to destroy the lock. On the other side of the corridor, Belle ripped the lock straight out of the door. Finn quickly walked past them to the other end of the corridor.

It seemed as though his worries about Plasmas were founded, as almost immediately a Plasma grunt walked around the corner at the end of the corridor. The Plasma let out a shout of surprise and immediately released a Pokémon, a massive houndoom. The hellhound bayed and darted towards Finn, smoke pouring from its nostrils.

In a moment Finn calculated his options. Crai was too worried with keeping the wild Pokémon from panicking. Jitters was running out of electrical charge by using it on the locks. Belle was stuck behind the horde of fleeing Pokémon. With other options ruled out, Finn ran towards the houndoom.

At the last second, Finn dropped onto his back and skidded under an incoming fire blast and thrust his right hand upwards, blade in hand. With his left hand, he placed his sword between his face and the houndoom's jaws. There was a frozen moment of silence.

"Recall your houndoom," Finn said calmly.

"Why should I do that?" The grunt asked tauntingly. "You're stuck."

"Yes, if I move I'll get my throat ripped out," Finn reasoned, "But on the other hand, if I move my right hand up just a little more…" here he shifted Athena's blade, causing a slight trickle of warm blood to drip on his hand. "Your houndoom's spinal cord will be severed, and it will never recover. So recall your houndoom, or it will not only have its hind legs paralyzed forever, but it will never be able to fight again."

There was a moment in which the grunt was thinking almost audibly, then the houndoom vanished in a flash of red light. Finn climbed to his feet and flicked the houndoom's blood off of Athena's blade, the red liquid flowing smoothly off of the steel of her blade and crossbar. He couldn't help but notice that the red didn't properly come off of his hand, but he couldn't worry about it now.

When Finn glanced up, the grunt ran past him, the man shoving his way through the wild Pokémon and dashing to the exit.

Glancing back, Finn checked to make sure that his Pokémon were fine. When he was sure that they were, he turned back. "I'm going to look ahead. When you're done, catch up."

 _"Finn, you're being awfully… cold. It kind of-,"_ Crai began.

"We don't have time to chat," Finn interrupted.

 _"Hurts."_

Finn stopped. "What?"

 _"Finn, it hurts to even be near you. It's worse than depression. That was just, well, depressing. Now, though, you're like a different person."_

At that Finn turned around to look at his Pokémon. Crai had walked up to him, the wild Pokémon having escaped in the time that Finn had stood there. "I…"

 _"Don't tell me that it's because of the mission, or some crap like that. You weren't like this before that gallade showed up. There wasn't this… malignancy. I can feel it radiating off of both you and that gallade, and it scares me."_ Crai tilted his head. _"He's given you his memories, hasn't he? He's making you into him."_

Finn opened his mouth, then hesitated. He was sure before, but now he wasn't. Rath _was_ giving him memories, memories of training and combat.

 _"What do you_ really _know about Ratherian?"_ Crai asked, _"From what little I've seen, he's trained to kill. He can disarm and cripple a human in less than a second, he has mastered his amorphous anatomy for the purpose of breaking into inaccessible locations, and he's cold and calculating. That doesn't sound like someone you should trust."_

"I…" Finn took a deep breath. "I understand where you're coming from. I really do. Rath has given me skills that have saved my life. But…" Finn paused for a moment. "at the same time, I trust you. Aspen raised you from an egg, and you've been nothing but helpful. I…" Finn paused in thought again. "I'll ask Rath where he learned his skills. I'll ask him why he's trained to kill. If he doesn't answer, I'll stay well away from him."

 _"I suppose that's as good as it'll get."_ Crai shrugged. _"In any case, I can sense only a couple more Pokémon in the building. One's Rath, one's impossible to identify, and the last one is… troubled."_

Finn took a deep breath. He looked at his Pokémon. Crai was there, but Belle had joined him, and Jitters was sitting on her shoulder. "Let's go."

Finn walked down the corridor and glanced over his shoulder. The others were following, which brought a feeling of happiness to him that he wasn't expecting. His Pokémon trusted him.

Turning his attention back to the corridor, Finn continued on. The corridors were eerily silent, but that at least meant that there weren't any Plasmas.

Finn and his Pokémon passed through laboratories filled with strange machines. Crackling electricity arced over the machines, keeping Finn wary that they could turn on at any moment. Hopefully they wouldn't, but there was a chance that they could.

It was in the tenth laboratory that they passed through that Finn stopped in his tracks. This room was… horrible. There were mangled Pokémon corpses in cages, twisted beyond recognition. Two machines dominated the room. The first sparked with electricity, made out of a glass tube with a metal bowl set just over the top. The other was composed of two huge glass chambers, wires and tubes connecting them, sparks flying off of the poorly constructed device.

Finn hesitantly walked towards the second machine, looking closely at it. The thing was monstrous and unwieldy, and even his lackluster knowledge of electronics was enough to know that it was in horrible disrepair.

"F-F-Fiiiiinnn"

Finn whirled, looking for the source of the cry. It hadn't sounded like any of his Pokémon, but for some reason he felt like it was familiar.

"F-Fiiiiiiinnn"

The stuttering and broken voice cried out again, and this time Finn thought he saw where it came from. He quickly walked towards one corner of the room, looking at the cages arrayed against the wall. After a moment, he picked out movement in one of the cages and stepped closer, peering in.

The creature inside was twisted and mutilated, but it was clearly a Pokémon. It was bipedal in form, with a face that peered out of a hood made out of leaves. Its skin was an ugly blotchy mix of yellow and brown, with a wooden quality in some places, especially on the arms. Its eyes were sunken and shadowed, not even mentioning that they were different colors. One was red and the other yellow. Ragged antennae poked out of the top of its head, twitching periodically. The creature's body was segmented like an insect, with a leafy covering shrouding its back. Its legs ended in three-pronged feet that looked like they were designed without balance in mind. The creature's arms ended in three-fingered hands, yet the fingers were curved into leaf-sickles. Clearly its sickle-fingers were sharp, as the scratches on the bars of the cage would attest.

Yet there was something about this strange hybrid creature that Finn recognized.

"…Harvest?" Finn asked warily.

"Fiiiinnn!" The twisted creature lurched across the cage, leaning against the bars and reaching out for him. It apparently didn't realize how sharp its fingers were, as they nearly brushed against his skin.

"Hold on, buddy. I'll get you out of there." Now he was certain. Finn stepped around Harvest's clawed hands and looked at the lock on the cage. He raised Athena's blade, then brought it down as hard as he could. Athena's blade lit up with ethereal blue light, then sliced cleanly through the metal lock.

As soon as the cage was unlocked, Harvest lurched forwards unsteadily. The oddly-transformed Pokémon wrapped his arms around Finn and lowered its head, nuzzling Finn. "Fiiiiiiinn."

 _"Finn, that… thing. I can't sense its thoughts. It's like its dark type."_ Crai said with trepidation. _"But its emotions are broadcasting, and it's just… simple. It only experiences one thing at a time. It's happy to see you."_

"That's because this is Harvest," Finn replied, knowing that Crai wouldn't have sent the transmission to Harvest even if the mutated Pokémon wasn't dark type. He let go of Athena's blades, not even noticing as she sheathed herself. With a gentle touch, Finn wrapped his arms around Harvest. "What happened to you…?"

"F-Fiiiiinnn," Harvest trilled, pushing closer.

"It's okay Harvest, I'm here now. We're going to get you out of here." Finn gently pulled away. Now that he looked closer, he thought he could see traits in the Pokemon that he could identify. There were of course the antennae and body shape of a leavanny, but also tufts of white hair that were characteristic of shiftry. Which meant that Plasma had invented something that could combine two Pokémon into one.

Shooting a glance at the large, poorly constructed device, he shook his head. "Alright Belle, I want you to help Harvest walk. I'm going to make sure the way is clear."

Belle nodded and walked over to Harvest, raising her hands to show that she meant no harm. She carefully reached over and grabbed Harvest, lifting the hybrid Pokémon off of the ground.

Finn glanced at Crai. "Crai, you said that there are two other Pokemon in the building besides Harvest, right?"

 _"Yes. Rath and something entirely feral,"_ Crai confirmed, nodding.

"Alright, Rath can take care of that himself. Let's get out of this place." Finn nodded to his Pokémon, and the group set off.

As the group walked, Crai glanced at Finn. _"Alrighty Finn. Got a question for you and Athena."_

"Shoot."

 _"Why haven't you spoken a word to one another all day? You haven't opened your mouth, but at the same time both of you coordinate like nothing I've ever seen."_ Crai glanced at Athena. _"Like when you dodged those bullets by shadow sneaking. Athena couldn't have seen it because her eyes were pointing the wrong way, and you couldn't use shadow sneak without her help."_

"We just… think as one," Athena answered. "I know what Finn wants right when he wants it. Kind of like telepathy, but… not really. I'm not psychic type, after all."

 _"It's so strange,"_ Crai commented, shrugging.

Finn and his Pokémon continued through the outpost, heading outside. There really wasn't anything to note on the way out, as the building was emptied. Jitters absorbed some of the sparking electricity for later use, and in the process destroyed one or two of the machines, but otherwise nothing happened.

Once outside, Finn took a Pokéball out of his bag and began to fiddle with it, trying to remember how to transfer a Pokémon to another Pokéball. Nyx landed nearby, having gathered the crippled grunts around the base of a tree. She looked at Harvest with interest. "Who's this?"

"Nyx, this is Harvest. You remember, back in Teret, when I told you about him?" Finn continued to fiddle with the Pokéball, not even looking up.

"Hello Harvest. I'm happy to finally meet you!" Nyx hopped forwards to greet the hybrid Pokémon.

Harvest trilled in greeting, a garbled noise that sounded partially like vocalization and partially like a simple Pokémon cry. Finn furrowed his brow at that. Before he had clearly been speaking, but it seemed as though he could only say one thing.

Finn had just finished recalibrating the Pokéball when there was an unpleasant _thud_ , followed by the ground shaking. Finn carefully stood, slid the Pokéball into his pocket, and unsheathed Athena's blades, looking at the Plasma outpost. The sound had come from there. There was something big. Something strong.

Just as Finn thought this, there was another _thud_ , and then one of the walls of the building exploded outwards.

A small humanoid shape flew through the air, trailing dust and streaming shadow energy. The shape twisted in the air, then landed on its feet. The gallade launched back towards the cloud of dust, launching pulses of psychic energy at a massive shadowy shape within.

A horrific roar filled the clearing, an ephemeral echoing quality causing it to have even more effect. From within the cloud of dust came a huge draconic shape, massive horns framing the head. Its whole body was covered in shadows, hiding the armor-like plating that made up its hide. It thrashed its head, smashing the building apart further, and roared again. Then it hurtled forwards, its wingless body was roughly bipedal, with spikes running down the back. As Rath got back up to attack it, the dragon sank into the ground, becoming nothing more than a serpentine shadow that darted over the ground until it reached the gallade. Then the massive dragon shot out of the ground, its bladed horns bashing against Rath's hastily raised guard.

Finn jumped forwards, running towards the creature. This was the feral mind that Crai had talked about. The messed up creature tortured beyond thought. Athena pulled Finn into the shadows, coursing through the darkness until he reached the dragon. With a twirl and a double shadow claw, Finn slashed at the dragon.

With terrifying speed, the dragon whirled. Its bladed tail and horns slashed at Finn, only inches away from him before there was a _wrenching_ sensation, and Finn was suddenly all the way across the field.

 _"Do. Not. Interfere. In. My. Kills,"_ Rath snarled. The gallade turned back to the shadowy monster and vanished again, teleporting back into the fray.

Yet in that instant that Rath was distracted, Harvest had acted. While before Harvest was probably not even slightly capable of combat, the hybrid moved with grace and speed now. With an ear-piercing shriek, Harvest had launched to his feet and blitzed across the field, his bladed fingers releasing twisting blades of shadow.

When Harvest's sickle-clawed hand sliced at the dragon, the monstrous creature roared in pain. It let out a plume of noxious gas to fend off its attacker, forcing Harvest to back off.

Then Rath returned to the battle. With two vicious slashes, the gallade launched pulses of psychic power into the cloud that caused the fumes to disperse. Leaping forwards, Rath drew his arms back and locked eyes with the dragon, both humanoid and dragon lighting up with psychic energy.

Without a sound, the dragon fell to the ground, dead.

Rath didn't stop, though. He turned towards Harvest and rearmed himself, his elbow blades elongating once more. The gallade hurtled towards Harvest, drawing his arm back to slash.

Finn ran forwards, sinking into the ground as he did so. When he emerged from the shadowy void, Finn raised both blades defensively. Rath's blade slammed into Athena with incredible force, nearly causing Finn to drop her.

A sound caused Finn to turn, Rath's rage-fueled assault forgotten, and Finn saw Harvest swaying unsteadily. Finn ran to Harvest, catching him before he hit the ground.

 _"Finnegan, back away from that abomination."_ Rath's blade was leveled at Harvest.

Finn didn't bother to acknowledge Rath's statement. "I've got you, buddy. I've got you."

Harvest turned his head to look at Finn. "F-F-Fiiiiiinnnn."

"You did really good. Return." Finn dropped one of Athena's blades and dug around in his pocket, pulling out the Pokéball from before. He tapped the ball to Harvest's forehead, recalling the hybrid in a flash of red light.

 _"Finnegan, you do not know what kind of monster you have just spared,"_ Rath warned, lowering his blade.

"I don't? Last I checked _you_ were the one to tell me Harvest was in there. _You_ wanted me to raid this plasma base with you." Finn put the Pokeball back in his pocket and stood, sheathing one of Athena's blades and picking up the other to return it to its sheath.

 _"That wasn't Harvest. Harvest must be dead. That_ thing _-,"_ Rath spat. _"Was a creature born of evil technology and cruelty. It was waiting to kill you."_

"No, I don't think so. He could barely walk." Finn shook his head. "He spoke, just like every one of my Pokémon. I understood him, and he understood me. That was Harvest, all right." Finn put his hands on his hips. "I think you didn't actually know Harvest was there. I think it was coincidence. I think you were after that shadow-dragon."

 _"Eliminating the gengar-haxorus mutant was secondary."_ Rath returned his blades to normal. _"It was important to remove this Plasma outpost anyways. It does not matter what reason we used."_

"Except that you manipulated me. You used me to destroy this base without telling me why." Finn paused, growing angrier. "And what's worse is that you're _changing_ me. You're making me into _you_."

Rath flinched at Finn's anger, reminding Finn that gallade were sensitive to emotion. _"I assure you, that was not my intent."_

"Who are you, Rath? From what memories I have from you, you were a virtuous, honorable duelist. But at the same time, your memories alter my emotions and personality to make me cold and calculating." Finn's voice was filled with scorn and anger now, causing the gallade to nearly shrink back. "Crai put it best. _Malignancy_. Not only that, but you weren't trained to fight, you were trained to kill. Who are you?"

Rath was hesitant, looking around. _"I… I will tell you. But not here. Not now. Meet me after you have seven badges. History tunnel. I will reveal all."_

With that, Rath vanished in a flash of light, teleporting away.

Sighing to himself, Finn let his anger drain away. He didn't hate Rath, but he did hate how the gallade avoided questions. Turning back to his Pokémon, Finn pulled Harvest's Pokéball out of his pocket.

"It doesn't matter why we were here, really. What does matter is that Harvest is saved."

Finn gathered his Pokémon, and together they set off. All the while Finn could almost hear Crai's cynical tone.

 _"I told you."_

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Rath isn't quite what he seems, is he?  
**

 **In any event, Harvest is back! Ta-da! I'm pretty sure some of you called this. But now he's a hybrid, an artificially created fusion of two different Pokemon. In his case, leavanny and shiftry.**

 **The shadow-dragon was a hybrid too: gengar and haxorus. Wonder what they were trying to make with a ghost-type dragon...**

 **In any case, please leave a review to let me know what you think!**

 **Now read on!**


	29. Interlude: Calluna

The crackle of electricity filled the air as Heather tried to rewire the doors.

 _Something_ had happened to cause them to short out. Maybe it had been a frustrated challenger or a Plasma extremist, but it really didn't matter. Whoever it had been was well and gone by now. And since it was the weekend, Heather was basically forced to fix it on her own. Her pretty basic understanding of wiring and electricity was usually enough to fix just about anything, though.

Except this. For some reason the doors were just fried. Replacing the wiring hadn't worked, either.

Sighing and standing, Heather wiped sweat off of her forehead. "Dammit. This isn't working. Maybe I'll give Nik a call next time the Elite Four go on break."

Heather dropped the wire cutters next to the soldering iron, taking care to make sure the latter was unplugged. She turned around to head back up to the wind-room.

Which was the only reason she saw the low shape dash towards her, two pointed knives raised.

Then the electricity arced, and Heather found herself writhing on the floor.

Unconsciousness took her soon after.


	30. Pride

There's something in even the most intelligent man that can drive him to do something stupid.

Take the hero Achilles, for example. He was unstoppable in battle, with the blessing of the river Styx keeping him safe from harm in all places but his heel. Achilles was wise, too. He knew that if he went into battle often enough he would be doomed. Someone would find his weak spot and end him. Yet he made his decision, and went into battle regardless.

In other instances of history, the winning side forced the losing side to pay for all the damages done. Yet this decision almost always causes the losers to turn to desperate measures to survive. Inevitably, this leads to disaster.

Then there are people who refuse to accept help, despite their inescapable situations.

But why do people do these things? What makes people think that these things are alright, despite evidence to the contrary?

Pride.

There's a reason it's one of the deadly sins.

* * *

There was a reason that Ephar was the garden city.

The whole of Ephar City was made of organic buildings, created out of carefully sculpted trees and foliage. Smaller houses were living mounds of leaves and wood, while larger houses were constructed of far more plants a much wider variety thereof. The most notable part of the whole city was certainly the massive conservatory that dominated the center of the city. Instead of metal supports the dome was made of tree branches and vines. Instead of glass there was a translucent film strung between the supports. It was a marvel of what could be accomplished with biological materials.

Apparently it was the life's work of the gym leader, Lorenzo. It had taken the old man sixty years to finish, and now it was a monument that would only grow and strengthen.

Truly, it was wonderful to just look around the city and take in the sights. The biological clocks that dotted the streets, the living buildings that made up the city. The people were pleasant and polite, always greeting him as he passed by.

And yet, Bastion and Crai found something to argue about.

"I don't like it. It feels too bright and shiny," Bastion complained.

 _"It's natural, but also manufactured. Complex and simple. True art."_ Crai scoffed. _"I don't expect you to understand."_

"If the two of you start arguing again, I am going to take it upon myself to decapitate the both of you," Athena groaned.

Both mareanie and kirlia spoke at the same time. "Wouldn't work."

Athena's confusion was tangible. "What?"

 _"Spike-head would regenerate, I would reform,"_ Crai explained.

"I still don't _quite_ understand that," Finn commented. "You can change your shape? I saw Rath do it, but then I wasn't thinking straight."

 _"Yes, all members of the ralts family are amorphous in nature. We can change our shape at will."_ Crai shrugged. _"It's the only reason that gallade can form their blades anyways."_

"But I've never seen gardevoir do it, and they're just about everywhere," Finn debated, "Why don't they change shape?"

 _"Because most gardevoir are stuck-up females of our species,"_ Crai spat, disdain dripping from his mental voice. _"They're busier trying to ruin our species' reputation by being absolutely obsessed with their human companions. Not only that, but they usually just try to use their psychic powers instead of utilizing their innate physical abilities. It flat-out pisses me off when my own species is brain-dead."_

"Fair enough, I guess." Finn shrugged.

 _"I mean, why sacrifice this-,"_ Here Crai reached up and lifted his head off his neck, creating new connections to his body through his arms. After a moment, he put his head back. _"-for the ability to make your squeamish trainer happy? Wouldn't being effectively invulnerable be more helpful? Of course, then there are the gardevoir that actually try to use their humanoid shape in order to-,"_ Crai shuddered. _"-_ woo _their trainers. It sickens me."_

Finn could only stare at Crai for a moment, surprised at the kirlia's vehement ranting. Crai was usually calm, if a bit cynical and scornful. "That's a bit harsh."

 _"No, it's true."_ Crai shook his head. _"There are gardevoir that literally try and seduce their trainers."_

"Not… exactly what I meant…" Finn furrowed his brow and pursed his lips, turning his attention elsewhere. "In any event, we're nearly at the Pokémon center. I'm going to use a vidphone to tell Aspen about the situation while I send Harvest over, the rest of you can sort yourselves out."

With that, Finn sped up, waving as he did so. He could hear Bastion cussing after him, but honestly he didn't care. Crai could take care of the badmouth for the day, while Belle and Nyx would make sure they wouldn't kill each other. As for Athena, well, she never left Finn's side.

Which made Finn consider Jitters. The little guy was even less active than normal, hiding atop Finn's head in the mess that was his hair. In fact, Jitters was uncharacteristically silent and still. It was somewhat worrying for the hyperactive joltik to be motionless.

As Finn walked in through the sliding doors of the Pokémon center, he gave it more thought. Jitters wasn't sick, he was sure of that. He hadn't exhibited any symptoms of diseases, and Crai would've told him if Jitters was hiding symptoms. It was extremely confusing. It was probably a good idea to ask the Nurse Joy to check Jitters out after Harvest was sent to Aspen's.

Putting his mind back on target, Finn quickly tapped out Aspen's vidphone address and waited. It wasn't long before he got an answer.

"Hello? Who is this?" Aspen's voice called from across the room. She was at work on something, her back turned to the camera.

"Hello Professor. It's me," Finn said simply.

At that, Aspen turned around, a look of surprise on her face. "Finn! I was almost expecting to hear you'd dropped off the face of the planet! It's been months since you checked in!"

"Well, um, I was stuck in Vernac, and I didn't see any reason to call." Finn scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Although, uh, it was probably not a good idea."

"Seeing as you used past tense, I assume you got the determination badge?" Aspen asked.

"Yeah. Terrance gave it to me." Finn nodded.

"I swear, one day Trinity will eat her words and wind up booted from her position." Aspen shook her head. "So, seeing as staying in contact isn't your top priority, why did you call?"

Finn chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry. I actually called for a couple reasons. First is that I found the missing ralts."

"Really? Where is he?" Aspen's eyes widened.

"He's with me, one of mine now. He, uh, evolved into a kirlia since escaping, and calls himself Craitarot now." Finn gave a half-hearted grin. "He's a bit of a cynic." Remembering why he called in the first place, Finn took a Pokéball out of his pocket. "But I actually called to let you know I'm sending a Pokémon over."

At that, Aspen raised an eyebrow. "You have seven Pokémon now?"

"Yeah. You remember Harvest?"

"I remember. Did you find him?"

"Um. Kind of." Finn hesitated. "He's… different. Team Plasma did something to him, made him into a hybrid of some sort. He's scared and confused, but I can't keep him with me. Could you take care of him for me?"

"Well, I'd be happy to take care of him for you. Send him over." Aspen pressed a few buttons, nodding to Finn.

"Fair warning, though, he may get a little… violent." Finn placed the Pokéball on the transfer device and punched in the transfer code. In a moment, the red and white orb had become a white light and was sucked into the device, being instantly transported to Aspen's lab.

On Aspen's side of the screen, she took a red and white Pokéball from her own transfer device and pressed the release button. As Harvest materialized, her eyes widened in surprise. Admittedly, Harvest's mutated form was more than a bit unsettling, but Finn supposed he had just grown used to it by now. The hybridized Pokemon's eyes were wide as he looked around, eventually locking his gaze on the screen and dashing over, placing his sickle like hands on the screen. "Fiiiinn?! St-stuck?!"

"No, no, Harvest. I'm fine." Finn placed his hand on the screen. "I sent you to Professor Aspen. She's going to take good care of you, ok?"

"F-Fiiiiinnnn," Harvest crooned, putting his forehead on the screen.

"Hello, Harvest," Aspen greeted, walking close to the hybrid. She could clearly see his scythelike fingers, and was heeding Finn's warning. "My name is Professor Aspen. I'm going to be taking care of you while Finn's busy, okay?"

Harvest unsteadily turned to look at her, his head tilting in curiosity. He slowly hobbled over to the Professor, still looking at her curiously. After a moment, he crooned happily, moving forward with startling speed and nuzzling his head against her shoulder.

"Looks like he likes you." Finn commented. "But that makes sense. He was combined with a shiftry, so he can read your intention."

"Combined with a shiftry, huh? That's not usually possible. But then, who knows what kind of genetic advancements Colress has made. He's always been very, very good at what he does." Aspen shook her head. "It's just a shame he fell in with Plasma."

"You know Colress?" Finn asked, surprised.

"Oh yes. He was a good friend when I was doing research in Unova; still is, actually. He was always trying to make Pokémon stronger than they were, always trying to enhance them. He's obsessed with artificial enhancements." Aspen paused. "Although usually he wouldn't allow something to this degree. What would have made him make something that could do this?"

"Are you sure Colress did it?" Finn asked, furrowing his brow.

"Positive. As far as I know, Colress is the only one in the scientific community with the skill and drive to do something this extreme." Aspen nodded. "Still, Harvest seems to be fine. Physically, at least. I'll run some psych tests to determine his mental state, but so far he seems to be fine." Aspen rubbed the top of the hybrid's head, eliciting a happy croon. "Is there anything else on your mind?"

"Just one thing…" Finn hesitated. "Why was Trinity ever allowed to be a gym leader? She clearly has a superiority complex, no regard for others, and a habit that trends towards cruelty."

"Well, Trinity used to be very, very different." Aspen bit her lip. "She was actually kind and caring, always helping with that rhyperior she trained. Then, one day, it was like she was taking steroids. She got bigger and more muscular, not to mention far more aggressive. Eventually, she was just… angry. At everything. At how she was just a gym leader, and not the champion. At how she wasn't able to defeat every single challenger. It got so bad that we instated Terrance as the true gym leader, even though we legally couldn't remove her."

"So something changed her? Something made her more aggressive?" Finn asked.

"More or less."

"Alright, thanks." Finn nodded. "I'll check in on my way to Bluebell. See you then."

"See you then, Finn."

With that, the vidphone turned off, and Finn breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Harvest got along with Aspen well. It had been a worry of his that the hybrid would become violent when separated from him, and would attack Aspen. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

Happy with a job well done, Finn turned to leave the Pokémon center. Hopefully Bastion hadn't tried to eat too many other Pokémon.

Then a hand placed itself on his shoulder, gripping tight enough to afford the owner of the hand control. The figure behind Finn leaned forwards, and, with a faint Kalosian accent in his voice, whispered into Finn's ear. "Monsieur Ferris. I apologize, but my employer wants to see you."

Before Finn could protest, the Kalosian man behind him was steering him out the front door of the Pokémon center and down the street. Finn tried to contort his neck to look at the man behind him, and was only mildly surprised when it turned out that Renard was behind this deed. Finn opened his mouth to ask, only for the Kalosian man to shake his head as he continued to push Finn along the street to a city square.

There was a huge crowd here, gathered around a temporary stage in the center of the square. Standing on the stage were several people wearing outfits that Finn recognized: Team Plasma uniforms. Not the silvery chainmail cowls of the Plasma Knights, but the black outfits of the band of thieves that Finn hated. Just seeing them made his blood boil.

They were talking, but Renard continued to push Finn through the crowd to the front, where he stopped. When Finn was in the front of the crowd, the Kalosian man let go and stood back, clearly waiting.

Finn looked up at the stage and furrowed his brow. They were talking about the fate of the world. How Plasma would own everything, and those who failed to join would be destroyed. It was a far cry from the message of kindness that the other faction of Team Plasma preached. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that freedom of speech was a basic right, they'd have been arrested for conspiracy. The message was just… cruel. Selfish. It made Finn sick.

A gravelly voice spoke then, interrupting Finn's thoughts. "I hear that you're the one who destroyed three of our bases."

Finn turned his head, looking at the man that had spoken. He was dressed in an extravagant cloak that was nonetheless made in muted colors, with the eye patterns on the robe making Finn somewhat uneasy. His one visible eye was red, while his right eye was covered by a kind of vision enhancing eyepatch. The man's left hand held a metal walking stick that he leaned heavily on, but a close look showed that the base of the walking stick was sharpened to a point. While the man's greying green hair was a partial giveaway to his identity, it was the emblem on the walking stick that sold it. A P with a Z behind it, painted onto a shield of black and white, while the whole emblem was affixed to an X of metal. This was the infamous Ghetsis Harmonia.

"It's admittedly impressive. I had not thought a child would be such a threat to our operations, least of all one with a history such as yours," Ghetsis said, not even turning to look at him. "But then, with your family's reputation, it makes a good deal of sense."

"What do you want from me?" Finn asked, anger growing. This man. _This man_ was the one who had tortured Belle, who had transformed Harvest, and who had caused so much grief and pain to both Toreta and Unova.

But Ghetsis didn't answer. "I've heard of your unique abilities. You can speak to your Pokémon as though they were human, and you can understand their response. You have executed maneuvers that haven't been seen in years, yet you thought of them on your own. You recovered from paralysis with the help of a Pokémon known for killing those it touches. Not only these, but your DNA is the gateway to the future."

Finn blinked in surprise. "What does that mean?"

"Like you, I was crippled at birth." Ghetsis raised his walking stick and slammed it into the gravel road, causing it to stand on its own. With the walking stick out of his hand, he reached over to his right side and swept the cloak aside, revealing his right arm. It was limp and lifeless, and as Ghetsis lifted it and let the limb fall, it was dead. His demonstration done, Ghetsis picked up his walking stick once more. "But you managed to recover, by obtaining some of the genetic data of a Pokémon. Not just any Pokémon, but a honedge. Something that is usually impossible."

At that, Finn's eyes widened. His DNA was fused with that of a honedge? Did that mean that Athena had accidentally given him some of her DNA when she had nearly killed him? But… that wouldn't make his nerves work again. Would it? It seemed more like that would result in _more_ dead tissue, actually. "Alright, where is this leading?"

"Your DNA is the key to horizontal gene transfer. The science of combining the DNA of two living creatures. But more than that, it holds the key to completely combine multiple creatures in one body." Ghetsis turned to look at Finn. "Imagine, combining two Pokémon into one, giving it the power, knowledge, and skill of both. You could use it to reshape the world, if you got the right combination."

"And why did you call me here? To gloat your success? I know you have a blood sample; Colress took one from me back when I was too trusting for my own good. So what do you want from me?" Finn reached up to one of Athena's hilts.

Renard leaned forwards at this point. "Finnegan, I would not do that."

Ghetsis, on the other hand, completely ignored Finn's actions. "No. I wanted to commend your skill. But more than that, I wanted to ask that you join us."

"No," Finn answered immediately, "I'm not joining Team Plasma."

"Why not? Your friend did." Ghetsis gestured at the stage, drawing Finn's attention to one of the grunts. To Finn's surprise, it was Darrell. The young man was standing solemnly, staring out at the crowd. "If you join him, we can achieve our goal so much faster. You would be one of the forerunners of the new world."

"I will not join you in your attempt to take over the world." Finn crossed his arms. "I will not help you mutilate more Pokémon. I will not help you steal, murder, mutilate, and torture. I won't do it."

Ghetsis was silent for a moment, but when he spoke his voice was cold, but at the same time so full of pent-up rage. "Then you will die. Just like everyone you know. All of your Pokémon will rot. There is no hope for you."

With that, the green-haired man turned and walked off, limping heavily as he dragged his right leg. Renard started to follow, but hesitated and turned back. When the Kalosian spoke, his accent was thick and his voice was scared. "For what it eez worth, Monsieur Ferris, I deeply apologize for what we have done."

And then they were gone.

The Plasmas onstage started off, Darrell shooting a glance back at Finn as he left. Finn only stared back, a mild resentment boiling within.

 _"Well done Finn. You've proven yourself in my book."_

Finn jumped, looking around. As the crowd cleared out, he caught sight of another green-haired pale figure, although this one was far more welcoming. The sight of the kirlia helped him calm down, reminding him to cool his grudge.

 _"I'm serious,"_ Crai said, walking between the legs of the human crowd until he reached Finn. _"If you had turned him down because of what he did to Harvest, or because of what his group did to Unova, or even if you didn't like the sound of his voice, I'd understand. But I wouldn't gain any respect for you."_ Crai had reached Finn, looking up. _"So you've earned my respect. I give you everything I have."_ The kirlia bowed.

"Um." Finn scratched the back of his head, his anger forgotten in that instant of awkwardness. "I, uh, thanks?"

 _"I'll do whatever my master desires of me."_ Crai continued. Then he glanced up and smirked. _"Although you still have to work on that temper."_

Finn sighed, then smiled tiredly. "Well, you can help me with that."

 _"Ehh…"_ Crai straightened and shrugged. _"We'll see."_

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Wow, Crai really hates gardevoir, doesn't he? But then, he's already stated his reasons.**

 **And now we see Ghetsis. Or rather, Finn meets Ghetsis. Ghetsis is a charismatic bastard who really only cares about his own goals. But he's proud, which is one of his primary character traits, as well as his downfall.**

 **No new people this time, but there really doesn't need to be.**

 **As always, please leave a review to let me know what you think.**

 **Now read on!**


	31. Humility

There's a trait that heroes need to avoid their inevitable downfall or corruption.

Even the greatest, kindest of people can fall prey to pride. Eventually, the praise that they receive can lead to their corruption. When everyone sees you as a good person, you begin to think of yourself as greater than others. The greatest Pokemon trainers believe themselves unbeatable, the richest people think themselves omnipotent, and the wisest of individuals view themselves as infallible.

So how does one avoid this fate? How do you keep yourself in the right?

Question your own actions. Listen to the advice of others. Never view yourself as better than everyone else.

Be humble.

* * *

The horrific face split in two, teeth lining the opening. The gaping maw gnashed a couple times before closing. Then it opened again in a horizontal configuration, the eyes on either side glazed over as the monster offered a clear view down its throat.

"Stop it."

The monster twisted and distorted, its face becoming segmented and insectoid. Its antennae twitched angrily as its compound eyes swiveled in their sockets. Mandibles formed, snapping at the air as drool began to drip from the serrated structures.

"I'm serious. Stop."

With a chittering laugh, the insectoid face began to melt, the face falling apart into a mess of flesh and skin. It continued laughing, the voice changing and deepening.

Then a spike pierced through its head, and the mischievous kirlia fell to the ground.

"Finally." Bastion sighed happily, settling back down.

"YOU KILLED HIM!" Nyx shrieked, her eyes flying wide as she raised her claws to grasp at her ears. "YOU KILLED CRAI!"

Finn turned to look at his Pokémon as the scream reached his ears. Looking at Crai, he sighed. "Crai, stop it. You're better than this."

Despite the spike piercing his head, the kirlia began to snicker, the odd, almost musical sounds he was making conveying his amusement. The spike slowly pushed all the way through, dropping to the ground, and Crai's face reformed. _"Maybe, but it was funny. I'd just like to say for the record, it was Bastion's idea."_

"Bastion." Finn shot the mareanie a glare. "Why did you think it was a good idea to try and have us think you killed Crai?"

"Because it was _hilarious_!" Bastion broke out into a mad cackle. "You should've seen the look on your face, Nyx! It was _priceless!_ "

Nyx, meanwhile, was blushing in both anger and embarrassment. "Don't do that again."

"Hoo, that was great." Bastion wiped a tear from his eye with one of his tentacles. "I won't do that again. Won't have the same shock factor."

"Bastion, watch yourself. Your pranks aren't always going to be welcome," Finn warned, "You could seriously hurt someone."

"Pssh, what harm could it do? It's just a good laugh," Bastion said dismissively, "So what's the plan for today?"

"Win," Belle stated quietly.

"Well, it's a little bit more than that," Athena added, "Since we're taking on the gym today, we did a bit of research on the gym challenge."

"The challenge is a bit different from the previous ones, in that it restricts which Pokémon you're allowed to use in the gym battle. The gym is kind of like a series of Pokémon battles, each one designed to force you to change Pokémon. When you reach the gym battle, any Pokémon that were used beforehand are banned," Finn explained, "Now, for most trainers this means that they're crippled because they relied upon a single Pokémon for most of their journey, but we should be fine. Our time training in Vernac has elevated all of you to the level where all of you are about equal. There are two exceptions: Belle and Crai.

"Belle is well above what most Pokémon can even achieve due to the treatment she received under Plasma. Crai, on the other hand, joined us after the majority of our training was over." Finn paused to let the information sink in before continuing. "And that's why they will be the ones to get us through the gym to the gym leader."

 _"Whoa, whoa, whoa."_ Crai shook his head. _"I understand having me unavailable in the gym battle, but why Belle? She's got abilities that could be of incredible use, like fire punch."_

"Because using Belle on the gym battle wouldn't be strategically sound," Finn answered, "She's just one Pokémon, and there's every chance that Lorenzo knows how to take out a Pokémon that is beyond normal strength. Deploying Belle against lesser Pokémon means that I only have to use her, or if necessary, you; as opposed to sending in Nyx, Athena, and Jitters instead of just Belle."

"Makes sense," Belle commented.

 _"Yeah, I guess so…"_ Crai scratched the back of his head. _"So when are we going?"_

"Now."

* * *

As Finn had predicted, Belle made short work of the trainers in the gym. There really wasn't all that much that the trainers could do against her, what with her heavily enhanced strength and increased training in Vernac. When Crai had been switched in thanks to a whirlwind, the kirlia had fared surprisingly well despite his innate disadvantage.

But there were a couple of times when Finn had been worried. For the most part, Crai listened to Finn's instruction and advice, allowing the kirlia to avoid many of the traps and tricks that people tended to utilize. But Belle was another matter. She always thought that she knew best, and rarely listened when Finn told her what to do. She had run headfirst into more than one cloud of spores and been knocked unconscious, forcing Finn to swap Crai in.

In the end, there hadn't been any moment when Finn really thought that his Pokémon were in danger of losing. Sure, Crai took a beating from a parasect, but Belle had pummeled the bug into the dirt.

So now Finn was at the end of the long path through the conservatory, looking around and admiring the sights.

Truly, the garden here was beautiful. With exotic flowers and apiaries built into still-living trees, it was a marvel of botanical engineering. Finn leaned over to look at a particularly brightly colored array of flowers, the design of an ultra ball made out of the yellow, black, and white flowers.

"Excuse me, young man." A quavering voice interrupted Finn's thinking. "Could you help me?"

Finn straightened, turning to look at the elderly man who had spoken. Something about him was vaguely… familiar. His heavy work gloves and durable outdoor apparel was clearly made for gardening, but also for managing the apiaries. The old man had a sunhat on, a thin mesh rolled up and attached to the brim.

"Of course." Finn nodded. "What can I do to help?"

The old man smiled at that. He gestured at one of the emptier flowerbeds, drawing Finn's attention to the still-potted flowers nearby. "I need a little bit of help planting these flowers."

"Alright." Finn nodded again and walked over to the flowerbed, kneeling and picking up a trowel. He hesitated. "I'm not… quite sure what to do."

Still smiling, the elderly man stepped over and knelt next to him, taking another trowel. "It's real simple. Just dig a little hole and pull the plants out of the pot, making sure to keep the dirt on the roots."

Finn nodded, using the trowel to dig out a little hole. Once the dirt was removed from the hole, Finn picked up one of the potted plants and carefully lifted it out. Finn set the plant in the hole and set about putting the dirt back.

"Now, most people don't know this-," The old man interrupted, leaning over. "But when you take the plant out of the pot, use the edge of the trowel to cut the roots. It makes them grow outwards better, and helps them adapt to a new environment."

"That makes sense," Finn replied.

"Then let's get to work." The old man nodded, returning to his work.

Young trainer and old gardener worked together in silence, continually digging holes and planting flowers. As the flowerbed was populated with flowers, Finn could see the design beginning to take place. A large design of a combee, made entirely out of flowers.

Finn paused for a moment when he saw a small shape crawling out of the flowers, gently putting down the trowel. After a moment, the shape came into view, revealing itself to be a small caterpie. Finn smiled and reached out, allowing the bug type to investigate his hand. Despite Finn's hopes, the little creature recoiled, backing away.

"Still have that old trouble, Finn?" The old man asked.

At this point, Finn straightened, stretching his arms. "Yes I am, Mister Langstroth. People and Pokémon both don't like me much."

"Ah, but you've made it this far, haven't you? Clearly you've made a few friends." The old man nodded. A smile began to spread across his face. "But tell me, when did you figure it out?"

"When the challenge made no sense." Finn stood stretching his legs out. "A series of Pokémon battles? In a gym focused on humility? Uh, no. That'll just inflate someone's ego. But having them do light manual labor that they probably have no idea how to do? Either they humble themselves or demand a Pokémon battle immediately."

"Well, you'd be surprised how many take the latter path. Too many young trainers these days are too proud." Lorenzo shook his head. "Normally the surprise works to their disadvantage, but lately it hasn't been enough. Too many informed, over prideful young trainers."

Funnily enough, Lorenzo was probably the one work associate of his parents that he remembered. The old man had visited often enough for that, really. Ephar wasn't that far from Bluebell City, if you went through History tunnel. But it had been _years_ since Finn had seen Lorenzo last, which was the sole reason he hadn't recognized the old man right away. Being a gym leader always drew from personal time.

"Team Plasma's been causing problems lately, and I'm not talking about the ones who just do protests. They've been stealing Pokemon and performing experiments on them." Finn scowled. "They've gotten to Trinity, or something." Finn sighed. "They're probably the ones who've been causing you problems." After a momentary pause, Finn added, "Terrance says hi."

Lorenzo nodded, sighing. "Trinity really has been getting more problematic lately, but I didn't know that she was in cahoots with Plasma. The state of the world really is catastrophic." Lorenzo shook his head. "But you're here for a gym battle, yes? I'm more than certain that you would win in a normal battle, and you've clearly taken the lesson of humility to heart. Let's make things a little interesting."

Lorenzo whistled, and the sound of buzzing filled the air. Within moments, a swarm of insects had gathered, led by a massive black and yellow shape. When the leader of the swarm appeared, Lorenzo whistled again, twirling one finger, and the rest of the swarm dispersed back into the gardens. As the vespiquen approached, Lorenzo reached out and took her clawed hand. "Meet Cleopatra, my companion Pokémon of almost seventy-five years now. The challenge she'll pose is simple. One of your Pokémon will fight her, a simple one-on-one. The catch is that you will battle her above the flowerbed, and should you cause too much damage to the flowers you are disqualified. The normal gym rules apply, as well as the restriction specific to this gym. What do you say?"

Finn considered the conditions. He could have an odd and unorthodox battle here, which would be quite an experience. It would also probably be faster, and much better experience for one of his Pokémon. But which Pokémon to choose? Belle and Crai were out of the picture due to the gym specific restrictions. Bastion was a bad choice simply because he had so little offensive power. Nyx or Athena would be the obvious choice, but what would happen if Nyx missed, or Athena didn't manage her blades properly? It could easily disqualify him if Athena's opening move sliced the tops off of the whole flowerbed.

Which meant that his best choice was Jitters.

Jitters was the one Pokémon Finn had that had yet to speak. That didn't lessen his trust in the joltik, but it did mean that there was a chance that the little fellow wouldn't understand him. Then there was the fact that Jitters had been acting strangely. Finn wasn't sure he wanted to put a potentially sick Pokémon on the battlefield. But Jitters had pinpoint accuracy due to his compound eyes, as well as a type advantage in his electric typing. Plus, it could be just the thing to snap the joltik out of his inactivity…

His mind made up, Finn nodded. "I'll do it."

Lorenzo smiled. "Very well then, choose your Pokémon."

"Jitters, I'm relying on you." Finn released the joltik into the flowerbed, the little yellow Pokemon blinking and shaking his head as he materialized.

"A joltik, huh?" Lorenzo rubbed his chin. "Well, it's a much harder target than I'd have though." The old man nodded. "A good choice. You can have the first move."

"Alright then. Jitters, use agility."

The joltik stamped his four feet, shaking his body as he tried to wake up. He began to stomp faster and faster, increasing his speed steadily while still standing in one place.

But before the joltik could do anything, the much larger vespiquen swept down and slashed at him, sending him flying into the air. Before Jitters could do anything else, Cleopatra released a swarm of smaller insects from her abdomen, the swarm viciously attacking Jitters.

"Jitters, discharge!"

With a violent flash of light, Jitters released his entire store of electricity at once. The blinding light electrocuted the whole swarm, stunning them and sending hundreds of tiny insects to the ground. It didn't matter, though, because immediately the swarm of insects was replaced by even more tiny bees. Jitters continued to release electricity, trying and failing to dislodge himself from the grip of possibly thousands of smaller insects. Suspended in the air, there was little the joltik could do about the constant onslaught.

Digging into electrical stores Finn hadn't suspected the joltik had, Jitters released an even larger discharge of electricity, finally dislodging himself enough to be dropped to the ground. As soon as Jitters was in the flowers, he began to shudder violently, trying and failing to make more electricity. But the actions were futile: joltik could store and steal electricity, but not create it. His options reduced, the joltik hunkered down into the yellow flowers to hide.

And yet he shot out another burst of electricity, a ball of electricity that hurtled through the air to slam into the vespiquen. Cleopatra shrieked in pain as the ball hit her and hundreds upon hundreds of insects began to fill the air around her. With one clawed hand, the vespiquen pointed into the yellow flowers, directing her swarm to attack.

"Jitters, sucker punch!"

A tiny form shot out of the flowers, twisting and contorting to dodge the swarm of bees as its yellow-furred legs extended. With a battle cry, the arachnid slammed its two front legs into its opponent, then released a blast of electricity so bright that Finn was momentarily blinded.

When the light faded, there wasn't a joltik on the battlefield. A long-legged spider was standing atop its unconscious foe, its furred body bristling with the thrill of combat. After jabbing its opponent one last time, the massive arachnid calmed itself, the bristling fur settling as it gently walked back through the flowers, not a single one scorched by the electricity that had been flying through the air. Finn could only look on in astonishment as the bug-type walked up to him, chittering happily.

"Well, looks like I've been beat. Quite soundly, too." Lorenzo nodded, a smile on his face. He gently stepped between the flowers and placed a hand on Cleopatra's head. "She'll get better soon, she's been through worse. But you, young man, and your galvantula…" Lorenzo turned back to look at Finn and Jitters, his eyes locked on the arachnid. "It's so seldom that I see a more devoted Pokémon. Your galvantula trusts you with everything. Even though it wasn't ready for battle, it still went in, and evolved as well!"

Finn grabbed his Pokedex out of his pocket, raising it to scan the galvantula in front of him.

[Jitters]

[Galvantula]

[EleSpider Pokémon]

[Type: Bug/Electric]

[Ability: Compound Eyes. This Pokémon has multifaceted eyes, allowing it to hit unreliable moves with greater accuracy.]

[Gender: Male]

[Galvantula are patient trappers, using their electrified webs to ensnare prey. Unlike their pre-evolution joltik, galvantula create their own electricity, allowing them to be far more aggressive with their electrical attacks.]

But Finn wasn't paying attention. He slipped the Pokedex back into his pocket and knelt down, reaching over and scratching Jitters on the back of the head. The newly evolved bug-type crooned happily, pushing forwards to nuzzle Finn. Finn smiled, wrapping his arms around the galvantula. "You did really good."

Jitters crooned again, pushing as close as possible.

"Well, Finnegan, it's as I expected." Lorenzo reached into his pocket and pulled out a small emblem: a metal badge in the shape of a beehive. "Behold the humility badge. A simple beehive it appears to be, yet it hides within a secret as pure as gold."

Finn took his badge case out of his bag and opened it, taking the badge and putting it into the padded foam. Before he could thank Lorenzo, though, the old man had something else in his hand. "And this is the TM leech life. For being humble, as well as having faith in your Pokémon, I give you this extremely useful move."

"Thank you." Finn nodded, taking the TM and putting it in his bag. He looked back up at the old man. "Thank you for everything."

"No, thank you, Finnegan." Lorenzo chuckled. "You helped me get a significant portion of my garden done! Now then, let's take a little break. My assistants have some lunch prepared."

* * *

"Colress, how much progress have you made?"

The scientist wiped his brow, looking up from his machine. After months of work, he was fairly certain it would work properly. Not that he wanted it to. If it failed, he'd actually be far happier. "It should be about done. It just needs a power source and the DNA."

"I have the power source right here." Cyril stepped forwards, juggling a glowing orb between her hands. When she caught it in her left hand, her latest mechanical hand opened like a flower, thin metal arms coming out to gently catch the orb. "Genesect power core. You have no idea how hard it was to obtain."

"Good." Ghetsis turned to look at Colress. "Add the genetic data and power source."

Colress sighed internally, knowing that any resistence would be met with immense pain. Taking the orb from Cyril, Colress placed it into a specially designed power center, hooking wires and connections up to it. Once the power core was in place, he reached into a labcoat pocket and pulled out a syringe. A special concoction designed to reproduce the unique DNA that had spurred the whole project to begin. With a heavy heart, Colress placed the serum into a slot on the machine, locking it into place and turning the machine on.

Standing up, Colress couldn't help but admire his handiwork. A device designed to combine two creatures into one. It was perfect in form and function; Colress had made sure of that. Three huge glass chambers connected by a central machine. When two separate creatures were put into the feeder chambers, a combination thereof would come out of the output chamber.

Before Colress could turn around, a strong grip picked him up by the neck, the metal fingers cold against his skin. He could feel the bruises forming from the sheer pressure of the mechanical digits. Cyril's voice chuckled cruelly. "Alright, time to test your machine."

Colress was forcibly moved, thrown into one of the two input chambers. The chamber slammed closed before he could climb back to his feet. The other chamber slammed shut just moments later. The scientist climbed to his feet and slammed his fists against the glass. "Don't do this!"

"Oh, Colress…" Ghetsis walked forwards. "It's already over."

With that, the machine activated.

Ghetsis stepped back, ignoring the screams. Light filled the input chambers, shrouding Colress from sight. Eventually the screaming reached a bloodcurdling apex before being quite suddenly cut off. The output chamber filled with smoke, the thick mist coiling and twisting as something inside writhed.

Then the chamber opened and the smoke cleared.

"It's a success."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Finn challenges and defeats the Ephar City gym! I bet some of you were thinking that it was a grass-type gym, but it was actually a bug type gym all along!**

 **Jitters has evolved at last! You can expect most of Finn's other Pokémon to evolve soon as well.**

 **New names this chapter are explained right here!**

 **Lorenzo: The bug type gym leader is named after Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, the man who revolutionized the construction of apiaries.**

 **Cleopatra: Named after the Egyptian queen of the same name.**

 **Ephar: Now this one's been in my head for a while, but I never really had a place to use it until now. Ephar is named after the Magic The Gathering card Ephara, God of the Polis. As you can probably infer, the goddess Ephara is designed to be a god of cities and civilization, which is why Ephar is a fitting name for just about any city.**

 **As always, please leave a review to let me know what you think!**

 **Now read on!**


	32. Interlude: Last and First

In the ground type gym of Vernac Town, Terrance was confused.

Ordinarily the sand wall was, well, a sand wall. Right now, though, it was packed into stone. Someone had clearly taken it into their head to ruin it. Whoever had done the deed had used a ground type to ruin it.

That wasn't the only issue, either. Trinity was gone. Just completely and utterly missing.

Terrance didn't have enough time to connect the dots, though, because then someone hit him over the back of the head. Hard.

* * *

For Mono Numer, life was difficult.

That wasn't to say that he had any issues with his lifestyle. In fact, it was exactly what he wanted. He could train his Pokémon, practice his faith, and teach the young trainers of Geistom. Being high priest was essentially his dream job. His degenerating cell structure wasn't even an issue with the assistance that his ghost type Pokémon gave. Apart from the faint chill – which he barely felt anymore – even the tomb he spent most of his time in was a pleasant place. There was always someone to talk to, should he want to chat, and there was always something to do.

Right now, though, he was sitting in his personal office. As gym leader, he had to turn in a staggering amount of paperwork on every trainer he battled. It was a little detail that was unknown to most, but to the gym leaders it was incredibly important.

His work was interrupted by the cellphone on his desk ringing.

Mono gingerly picked it up and sighed. This was the reason life was difficult for him.

Putting the phone up to his ear, Mono answered the call. "Yes?"

The person on the other end of the phone began to speak, and Mono nodded. "I understand."

Then Mono ended the call, putting the phone into a pocket of his cloak.

Mono leaned over his desk and hit a button, activating the intercom. "Reaves, could I see you in my office? I need to talk to you."

With that said, Mono leaned back. In only a moment, Reaves pushed open the door, poking his decaying head in. "You asked to see me, sir?"

"Yes, please come in." Mono gestured for the revenant to come closer. Reaves stepped into the office, his stance relaxed. Once the undead was in the office, the door closed behind him. "I have… bad news."

"Of what kind?" Reaves raised a rotting eyebrow.

"Of the same kind as the horrible experiments you and young Finnegan stopped." Mono sighed and stood.

"Oh. Oh dear." Reaves scratched the back of his head, bits of skin flaking off. "Well, what can we do about it?'

"I… I'm stuck, Reaves. I can't do anything. My hands are tied so securely by my oath, if I tried to fight it I'd be ruining myself." Mono walked across the room to stand next to Reaves. "I have a plan, but it's not pretty."

"Well, whatever your plan is, I'll stand beside you." Reaves placed a hand on Mono's shoulder in support.

"Thank you, old friend." Mono nodded, closing his eyes. "And I'm sorry."

"Sorry for wha-?" Reaves began.

Mono plunged his hand forwards, the fingers slipping through Reaves' chest without breaking what was left of the skin. With a wrenching tug, the gym leader pulled out a glowing purple stone. Reaves immediately sagged, his animating stone removed.

"For this." Mono whispered, a tear sliding down his cheek. "I'm so, so sorry old friend."

Mono turned and set the animating stone on his desk. Standing up straighter, he took a moment to compose himself. Wiping the tear from his face and blinking the rest out of his eyes, Mono straightened his cloak and waved his left hand, conjuring an orb of ghostly energy. A moment later, a massive ghost floated through a nearby wall, bowing to Mono. _–Yes, master?-_

"Please don't call me that, Thanatos." Mono's voice was hoarse and trembling as he spoke to his Pokémon. "Just… get us away from here."

The massive dusknoir floated forwards and gently lifted Mono up. Then gym leader and ghost type vanished from mortal eyes, travelling through solid objects to their shared master.

In the empty office, the corpse on the floor began to rot.


	33. A 'Fair Fight'

What is fair?

Well, in truth, nothing is. Using the common definition of fair as everyone having an equal chance, everyone needing only skill and determination to achieve success, it is completely impossible for life to be fair. Some people are born with talent, others are born with deficiencies, and some are crippled from the moment they breathe.

But that doesn't mean you should give up. Some of history's greatest artists and creators started out in the worst of places. Vincent Van Gogh spent years upon years painting, practicing, and learning, all on a budget that couldn't feed himself and with insanity creeping in. Leonardo Da Vinci spent well over a decade making paintings that nobody liked, yet he is still renowned as an innovator and painter. These people started out in poor places, yet made it to fame, even if it was not within their own lifetime.

Others try to create fairness. Be it by giving themselves an advantage or by crippling another. Often these people are angry, frustrated, or outraged. In their attempts to make things fairer, they only wind up ruining it.

Of course, they're commonly known as cheaters.

* * *

"Thank _Arceus_ we're finally leaving this overly cheery place."

 _"Oh for the love of- Bastion. It's art."_

"I liked it."

"Ok Nyxxie, nobody cares."

"Why are you being so rude?"

 _"Because he has as many brain cells as your average mango."_

At this point, the arguing managed to get on Belle's nerves. Finn could tell, because this was when she said, "Stop."

"Aaaalright, that's the end of that discussion," Finn interjected, "Pointless fighting isn't going to help us when we pass through History tunnel."

"Remind me, what's the big deal with History tunnel?" Bastion asked.

"It's connected directly to the History Caverns, which as you know-,"

"-Is one of the most dangerous places on the planet," Belle interrupted quietly.

Finn nodded. Belle had been there for years before coming into the mines of Vernac. Arceus only knew what she had seen down there. "Belle's right. There are incredibly powerful Pokémon down there, and most of them despise humans."

"So they'll attack you. Why should I care?" Bastion quipped.

 _"Because, moron, they'll associate you with Finn, and rightfully so,"_ Crai answered.

"Well, I could always-,"

 _"You try it and I explode your head."_

"Noted. Still gonna do it."

 _"Well, I don't gotta run faster than the hostile Pokemon, I just gotta outrun you. Or, you know, I could teleport everyone else out."_ Crai rolled his eyes.

"Stupid psychic type." Bastion sulked. "Can't even have a good scheme when you're around."

 _"Get used to it."_

"Please, stop," Finn said with a sigh.

 _"Alright, alright."_ Crai raised his hands in surrender.

"Fine," Bastion muttered.

When silence at last reigned, Finn felt himself calming down. That in itself surprised him. Finn hadn't even realized he was growing angry. The concept worried Finn; if he was getting angry over this, what would he blow up about? It was… terrifying.

As Finn continued along the road with his Pokémon, he couldn't help but think about that. Was it actually Rath's doing? It was entirely likely, to be honest. Beforehand, he hadn't been nearly as short-tempered. Back before he met Rath, he had been all patience, but now he was anything but. The idea that Rath could destroy his personality like that was absolutely mind-boggling.

But why was Rath so… angry? So violent? What had made him that way? Clearly he had it under control, as he acted calm and controlled most of the time. But when the ghost-dragon had attacked, Rath had gone absolutely berserk. The gallade had lost his temper when Finn had tried to help, and had nearly attacked Harvest as well. The sheer rage on his mostly featureless face had been terrifying, blood chillingly so.

Finn shook his head, thinking about other things. Dwelling on that would only lead to more confusion. Rath would explain everything after Finn obtained his seventh badge.

Instead Finn worried about passing through History tunnel. The place was a maze, Finn knew. He had examined maps of the place, and had come out with an even less steady understanding of the layout than he had going in. Coupled with the kinds of Pokémon that had been spotted inside, Finn was worried to pass through. Yet it was the only good way to get to Bluebell from Ephar.

In fact, Finn could see the mountain from here. The rugged terrain and nearly inhospitable landscape around the mountain was the sole reason the tunnel had been discovered in the first place. As they drew closer, Finn kept an eye out. Ekans and arbok were known to live in this area, often camouflaged with odd coloration.

And despite the lack of possible dangers, Finn was uneasy. Something was off, and it was nagging at him. Like a spike in the grass, he knew there was something even if he couldn't see it. Casting a glance at Crai, he could see that the kirlia was furrowing his brow. Something was definitely wrong.

But they continued forwards. Finn looked around as he and his Pokémon entered the cavernous tunnel, noting the sparkling stones set in the walls. Something about the geology in Toreta resulted in elemental stones forming just about anywhere. They supplied minimal light, but they were useful in finding one's way in the absolute darkness of the deeper tunnels.

The group had just reached a fork in the tunnel when Crai hesitated. _"Finn, something's-,"_

Before the kirlia could finish his psychic message, a voice rang out through the tunnel. "Well, well, well, looks like Finnegan took the predictable route."

A broad-shouldered shape stepped out from behind a bend in the tunnel. His black clothing made it harder to make out his shape, but the brown hair and permanent scowl allowed Finn to easily recognize Darrell. Immediately, Finn could feel anger bubbling up inside. "Darrell. What do you want."

"What any good trainer wants: a Pokémon battle," Darrel said calmly, spreading his arms.

"Fine." Finn grabbed two Pokéballs from his belt and raised them to recall his Pokémon. "Nyx, Bastion, return."

The Pokéballs looked like they were going to shoot out the typical red beams of light, but after glowing for a moment they simply fizzled. Finn could only look at the Pokéballs in shock, while Darrell was cackling. "Hah! Yes! Finally a fair fight!"

"A fair fight, Darrell?" Finn asked, growing angrier. "What kind of fair fight has one side unable to use Pokéballs?"

"One with you," Darrell answered simply, shrugging. "To be completely fair, I won't be using artificial revives. You can't quickly save your Pokémon, my Pokémon can only go down once. Given your abnormal skill, I'd say it's perfectly fair."

"And if I refuse?" Finn crossed his arms.

"First, you won't. It's dishonorable to turn down a Pokémon battle." Finn flinched, Darrell had hit the nail on the head. "Second, in case you've turned into a delinquent – which I doubt, knowing you – I've rigged the walls with explosives. You turn me down, I walk away and detonate the whole thing. Not an option you'd relish."

"Fine. You'll get your battle." Finn reached up to his shoulder and removed Bastion, setting the mareanie on the ground. "But if I pull a Pokémon out, you have to stop attacking them."

"Alright, I'm not cruel." Darrell nodded, snapping a Pokéball off of his belt. "And, because it is a bit unfair for you to not have the element of surprise with your first Pokémon, I'll do you the favor of choosing first. Christine, to battle."

Darrell tossed the Pokéball, releasing his roserade onto the battlefield. Finn considered his options. The roserade was scarily powerful, as she had demonstrated in the last battle Finn had had against Darrell. Choosing carefully, Finn nodded to Crai. "Crai, you're up first."

Craitarot stepped forwards onto the battlefield, examining his foe. After a moment, spines appeared all over his skin, his ability tracing Christine's innate abilities and giving him toxic spines to match. He grinned. _"Ooh, this is interesting."_

"Crai, use psychic!" Finn directed.

"Christine, petal blizzard!"

Both Pokémon launched immediately into action. The roserade began whirling, the petals of her bouquets flying off and whirling around her. The blizzard suddenly stopped, causing the roserade to slowly wind to a halt and tilt her head in confusion. Crai chuckled, and suddenly the petals were flying the other direction. Christine's eyes widened, and she raised both bouquets and fired two globs of toxic sludge through the air, catching Crai in the chest. The kirlia staggered back, then raised both hands. The air in the tunnel grew suddenly motionless. Then Crai clapped, and Christine fell over with a _thud_.

 _"Hoo boy, that stings,"_ Crai muttered, staggering back. He looked at his chest, which was faintly sizzling. _"You know, I don't think I feel too good."_

"Crai, switch out. Bastion, you're in." Finn waved Crai back, waving Bastion onto the battlefield at the same time.

 _"Right. Not… not going to complain about… that."_ Crai staggered off of the battlefield, falling back against a wall and using his psychic powers to try and remove the toxic sludge from his sizzling flesh.

As Bastion shuffled forwards, Darrell grabbed another Pokéball. "Shiva, your turn."

A towering, grey-skinned creature appeared. Its legs resembled baggy pants, with its odd pink coloring and strange walk. The Pokémon had its eyes closed when it appeared, but it opened them immediately upon entering the battlefield. The medicham raised its hands, putting its hands together and bowing.

"Yeah, okay bobblehead." Bastion chuckled.

"Bastion, use toxic spikes."

Bastion began to shake, spikes shooting off of his head and landing on the other side of the battlefield. The medicham didn't even react, simply standing and waiting for the attack to finish. As soon as all of the spikes landed, Shiva dashed forwards and launched a punch, electricity crackling through the air as the punch hit home. Bastion flew through the air before landing, cackling as he began to launch more spikes, these designed to hit his foe.

Apparently Shiva didn't like the spikes being driven into its skin, because it then proceeded to fire pulses of psychic energy into Bastion. The mareanie's skin began to split from the sheer force of the psychic attack, but he continued to cackle maniacally. Despite the incredible blood loss Bastion was undoubtedly experiencing, he didn't stop flinging spikes at his foe. In moments, Bastion was little more than a mangled mess of flesh and spikes. At last his mad cackling stopped, silenced by the sheer inability to continue.

"Crai, pull him out so that he can regenerate. Athena, you're next."

As Bastion's slowly healing body was pulled out of the battlefield by Crai's psychic power, Athena slipped herself off of Finn's back and floated out to face the medicham. Calmly unsheathing her blades one at a time, she readied herself for battle.

Then things happened.

Two lightning quick slashes sent the medicham sprawling from the shadowy attacks. Phantasmal swords began to float around her as she twirled through the air, sinking into her and enhancing her power even more.

"Shiva, return." Darrell recalled the medicham, swapping the Pokéball for another. "Set, you're in."

What appeared was a creature that Finn had researched, but had never thought he would see. A green dragon with polygonal wings and red shields over its eyes. Finn could hardly believe that Darrell had the dedication to evolve his trapinch into a flygon. The dragon type stretched and yawned, trilling happily as it appeared on the battlefield.

That gave Finn cause to hesitate for a moment. If Darrell could gain the trust of a dragon type, one of the most difficult kinds of Pokémon to please. It was… confusing.

"Athena, swap with Nyx."

Athena immediately floated to the sidelines, and Nyx hopped forwards. Pitting Athena against a flygon was downright stupid. Even if Darrell had gotten smarter – which he clearly had – and wouldn't use earthquake in such an unsafe place, a simple bulldoze or even a sand tomb would put Athena out of the fight.

As it was, though, using the pogo strategy wouldn't work in such a tightly enclosed space. Even if sand tomb wouldn't hurt her, the grains of dust and dirt flying through the air would dispel all of the double team clones. Nyx wasn't at an advantage here, to be honest, but she had less of a disadvantage from the others.

Upon reconsideration, Nyx did have an advantage.

"Nyx, use ice fang!"

"Set, dragon claw!"

Both Pokémon launched at one another. Nyx opened her mouth wide, a faint mist trailing from her jaws. Set slashed with both claws, draconic energy appearing around its claws as it attacked. Both Pokémon hit each other at the same time, sending the two soaring into the walls with a _thud_. Yet neither was out of the fight yet, as both Nyx and Set began peeling themselves from the walls.

"Nyx, swap out with Belle." Finn couldn't afford Nyx to be defeated now. If Nyx was out of play and Finn lost, then there was no way he could get back to town.

Belle rushed onto the battlefield, her fists lighting up with energy as she slammed into her draconic foe. Ice crackled on Set's scaled skin, the frost spreading as the dragon slowed down. With a final punch, Belle launched Set across the cavern into a wall.

"Set, return. Khione, your turn."

The dragon type vanished in a flash of red light, only for Darrell's froslass to appear on the battlefield. Immediately the ice-type began to release ice across the battlefield, filling the tunnel with frost crystals. Belle slowly backed up, wary of the spreading ice. At Darrell's order, Khione hurled a ball of purple energy at Belle, forcing her to dodge the orb. Immediately Belle launched herself forwards, her fists burning as she slammed a punch into the fragile ice type.

Khione started backing off, floating away from Belle in an attempt to dodge the furious assault. Ice bursts began to hit Belle in the legs, vainly trying to slow the onslaught of the brutally powerful machamp.

Then, just when it looked like the froslass was about to fall to the ground, Khione leaned forwards and kissed Belle.

At first Belle was just shocked, like she was about to fall over from the sheer surprise of the froslass kissing her. Then Finn realized that the real reason Belle was about to fall over had nothing to do with the kiss, and everything to do with the fairy energy that was flowing from Belle into Khione. The froslass had used draining kiss on Belle, the faint cracks on the ice-type's body sealing shut.

"Belle, switch with Jitters," Finn directed. Belle couldn't do this fight as it was. She was powerful, yes, but she didn't know what her foes could do. She was reckless, too confident in her own skills. Khione was a Pokémon that capitalized on that.

Jitters entered the battlefield from above, avoiding the iced-over floor by doing so. As soon as he was over the froslass, Jitters began raining electrical webs on her. Khione was forced to dodge like crazy to avoid being hit by the webs, but even then she was hit by electrical webs, screeching in pain as the initial hit caused more and more webbing to wrap around her. Once the froslass was effectively immobilized, Jitters released a massive bolt of lightning: thunder. As the resounding aftereffects of the attack shook the cave, Darrell furrowed his brow. "Khione, return."

Darrell looked at Finn, hatred burning in his yellow eyes. "You know, I was thinking that maybe you would fight fair this time. But no. You just have to keep showing off your little tricks. Every. Single. Goddamned. Time." Darrell took a deep breath, shaking his head. For a moment it felt like the tunnel was warmer, but it faded as Darrell calmed himself. "No. I'm not going to lose. Rose, you're in."

After the battered froslass vanished in a flash of red light, another creature took its place. A huge stony form with a gigantic red nose and hat, the new Pokémon floated just above the ground. Finn hesitated at the sight of it. Jitters had been able to easily take this probopass down before, but Darrell had already shown that he and his Pokémon were far more skilled than before.

Not that Finn had the chance to swap Jitters out before the probopass attacked. It raised its mini-noses and began to spin them in a circle around its body, the loose stones on the floor beginning to rise. Then it hurled the stones at Jitters, dislodging the galvantula from his perch and pummeling him. Finn immediately gave the order: "Jitters, swap with Athena!"

Athena dashed in with staggering speed, almost before Finn gave the order. By spinning her blades, she deflected the stones from the retreating Jitters. As soon as Jitters made it off the battlefield, Athena launched herself into attack, using shadow claw to rip through her rock-type foe. For a few moments it seemed as though Athena would simply take her foe down without any risk, but then the probopass retaliated. Using its mini-noses to attack, the probopass began to spin its lesser limbs at rapid speed, each one smacking into Athena with stunning force. With a massive hit, the probopass knocked Athena back into a wall. As Athena hit the wall, the probopass slammed into the ground, causing the stone of the wall to arc out and slam straight into Athena's crossbar.

Finn felt agony bloom across his eyes. Screaming in pain, Finn closed his eyes and doubled over.

Yet he could still see. His vision was distorted heavily, his sight fragmented and fractured. The probopass was closer than before, much, much closer.

Then his sight returned to his body, and Finn opened his eyes. What he saw was terrifying. Athena's eyes were cracked across the middle, fragments of gemstone falling out of her hilt onto the ground. Finn immediately straightened. "Darrell, stop. I forfeit."

"No. You don't get to quit this time," Darrell said harshly, fire burning in his eyes. The ice on the floor of the cave began to melt as the temperature rose. "You don't get to chicken out before you lose. I don't care if your Pokémon are hurt. Deal with it. Life's filled with pain." Darrell closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but when he opened his eyes, he was even angrier than before. Heat was rippling across the tunnel. With anger, Darrell slammed a fist against the wall, the stone beginning to glow. "I will NOT let you get away with this after all you've done to ME!"

But Finn was more worried about the fact that the stone of the wall was beginning to run, the heat melting it down to lava. "Darrell, what did you let them do to you?"

"They made me _better_ ," Darrell growled. His fist loosened, and he clenched it again, the molten stone flowing between his fingers. "They made me into the next stage of human evolution. Now I'm better than you are. At long, long last."

"Darrell, you're not _better_ because of genetic changes." Finn gritted his teeth, the pain still echoing through his skull. "You only become _better_ when you improve yourself on your own."

"Of course you'd say that." Darrell was shaking with rage now, his anger causing the wall of the tunnel to melt even further. "You, who's always been so _perfect_."

At this point the wall of the tunnel was entirely luminous red. The heat was so intense that Finn was sweating. Without warning, the tunnel wall exploded. Darrell's eyes bugged out in surprise, the flames dying down as Darrell backed away from the wall. After a moment, another explosion rocked the wall, causing the roof of the tunnel to start falling.

After a moment of hesitation, Darrell recalled his probopass and ran. Finn looked around at the collapsing tunnel, only now realizing the sheer danger of staying here. Finn quickly tried to recall all of his Pokemon, only for the Pokeballs to fail again. With his options gone, Finn quickly shouted, "Run!"

Finn shot off towards Athena, knowing that with her damaged eyes she wouldn't be able to pick out her path easily. As his foot came down, as spike shot through his foot, causing him to scream out in pain. Bastion's toxic spikes had clearly remained on the battlefield, and now one spike was sticking through his foot. The sudden jerk on his foot caused Finn to fall, twisting as he fell to land on his back.

A rock fell from the tunnel roof and landed on his leg. Finn could hear his leg snap, could feel the bone cracking from the impact. The pain caused stars to flash before his eyes, his vision darkening as he struggled to keep himself from falling unconscious.

More boulders started falling from the ceiling. Belle hurtled across the room, shielding Nyx with her body. Athena struggled to see, only for more boulders to fall, one hitting Athena head-on. Finn screamed in agony, Athena's pain nearly sending Finn into unconsciousness again. Jitters screeched in terror, jumping away from a falling section of the ceiling. Another boulder fell down, directly above Finn. Finn closed his eyes as the stone fell towards him.

Only for a flash of light to erupt as the boulder bounced off of a shimmering bubble. A voice that Finn didn't recognize began swearing. "Dammit, dammit, dammit! Can't hold this long!"

Finn turned his head, furrowing his brow. A white shape was standing over him, its arms outstretched above its head, energy streaming out into the protective barrier. "Crai…?"

"Just..." Crai began to use telepathy. _"Just hold on!"_

And then the whole ceiling fell in, and the last thing Finn could see was a blinding flash of light.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **When I started this story, Darrell was a typical one-dimensional bully. You know the kind, the one that appears in every single movie centering on a juvenile main character. As the story progressed, I came to the realization that Darrell really had no character at all. So now you get a glimpse into who he really is. I've come up with a really complicated explanation as to why he acts the way he does, but either I'll reveal it later or I'll explain it in a later author's note. Probably the former. For now, though, just know that the way Darrell acted here is more like what he'll act like later.**

 **But yeah, Darrell is a genetic combination of the same type as Renard, Cyril, and Dua. If you can guess which Pokemon it is, you get an E-cookie.**

 **New names this chapter are explained here!**

 **Shiva: The name of one of the primary gods of Hinduism. Also happens to be what medicham is based on.**

 **Set: Named after the Egyptian god of chaos and the desert.**

 **Rose: As in compass rose.**

 **As always, please leave a review to let me know what you think!**

 **Now read on!**


	34. In Darkness

There is something about being trapped in darkness that reveals the truth about people.

Take anyone and put them in a lightless cave with only a couple of people to interact with. Then block them in. For a while they will keep calm, remaining reasonable. But given enough time, they will reveal their true nature. Those who usually appear calm and calculated will start to crack, becoming panicky and stressed. Those who are kind will show that they are selfish as well.

In darkness, appearances are torn away.

Yet those who are genuine, who show their true nature at all times, they shine the brightest in the darkness.

Athena came to consciousness almost without realizing it. The absolute darkness around her was crushing, claustrophobically so. The stone that was encasing her didn't help, either. It was holding her in place, keeping her from moving at all. That wouldn't do.

Drawing upon the innate powers that ghost type pokemon possessed, Athena turned herself intangible. With the stones no longer an obstacle to movement, Athena began to cast about with her sashes, searching desperately for one of the others. The only one she knew was alive was Finn, and that was because… she knew. It didn't matter how she knew, she just did.

At last, Athena managed to find something that was squishier than stone. Using her abilities, Athena turned the squishier creature intangible and started tugging. The incredible amount of rock around her meant that she had to drag the creature through nearly ten minutes' travel of stone.

But when she at last reached a large enough pocket of air for both her and whatever she was dragging, Athena turned them both tangible again. Collapsing to the ground from the exhausting activity, Athena lay there for a good long while.

Eventually, a voice spoke. One that Athena would honestly be happier not to hear. "Where the hell are we, and why is everything sparkly?"

Bastion. Of course the one creature she had enough energy to rescue had to be Bastion. Athena groaned in pain, floating back up above the ground. "We're in History tunnel."

"Right. That explains everything to me," Bastion grumbled.

There was a shuffling sound, and then something spiked hit Athena in the eye. Pain spiked up, reminding Athena that her eyes had been cracked by the probopass's earth power. With her voice strained, Athena spoke. "Please don't do that."

"That has to hurt," Bastion commented, "Can you even see out of those? They're like little shards of crystal. Maybe you should see a jeweler about that."

"Of course I can't see, it's pitch black," Athena replied.

"Um. Hate to break it to you, swords, but the crystals are lighting this place up like a starry field."

At that, Athena felt her spirits drop. If she really was blinded due to her broken eyes, then there was a real issue. She couldn't fight blind. She couldn't even navigate the cave blind. Something would kill her if she tried to wander around in the History cave blind. Which meant that she needed Bastion. "Bastion, I need you to guide me through the tunnels."

"Yeah, ok. That's happening." Bastion chuckled. "Why should I? I could easily just waddle out of here and forget about you, forget about Finn, and forget about the others too."

While this sort of talk wasn't exactly unknown from Bastion, only now did it strike Athena as serious. Bastion wasn't just kidding, wasn't just doing it for shock value, he was completely serious. "You wouldn't."

"I wouldn't? Watch me." Bastion began to shuffle off, the sound of his movement beginning to fade with distance.

"No, you won't." Suddenly, Athena could see. Blades sweeping towards her face only to stop just a fraction of an inch away. Then, just as suddenly, everything was dark again.

"Okay, so you're not helpless in darkness. Noted. Doesn't change anything." Bastion pushed onwards, his spines brushing against Athena's blades and slicing cleanly off.

"Maybe physical harm doesn't hurt you…" Athena's sashes whipped around, grabbing Bastion. Again, there was a flash of vision, and she could see two purple sashes wrapping around her. Despite the surreal point of view, Athena kept her grip. "But see if you stay alive after I drain your soul."

"You… you wouldn't," Bastion declared. His voice was calm, but Athena knew that he was lying. He was scared. "You're too much of a goody-two-swords."

And Athena could see again. Two gaping holes ringed with razor sharp shards of pink crystal stared back at her. With a start, Athena realized that she was seeing through Bastion's eyes. He was scared, terrified, in fact. And while he was scared, she could see through his eyes. With this new knowledge in mind, Athena loomed closer. While it scared her how terrifying her own appearance was, she wasn't about to just stop. So, looming ever closer, Athena whispered, "Try me."

Bastion hesitated, backing up a bit. "I – you - Finn wouldn't like it if you killed me."

"You're right." Athena bobbed in confirmation. "But you know, _Finn won't know._ "

"You're bluffing." Bastion's fear was tangible, though he kept his voice even. Then, just like that, his fear was completely gone. Replaced by confidence and giddy pleasure. "You're bluffing, I know you're bluffing. You can't even hurt anyone. Otherwise Finn'd be dead a million times over. You're basically a neutered version of your species!"

"You seem so sure about that." Athena herself wasn't entirely certain she could steal someone's soul anymore. The last time she had tried to do so had been when she accidentally almost killed Finn, well over a year ago now. No, wait, she had also done it to that Plasma goon in Vernac…

Concentrating, Athena began to _tug_ on Bastion's life force. It was an odd sensation, one that seemed to do nothing. But then-

 _-The blood in the water surrounded the newly hatched mareanie, filling his senses with nothing but gore. It was absolutely wonderful. So much blood to smell, so much meat to consume. It was a feast-_

-And Athena returned to reality. Once again she could see through Bastion's eyes. The water-type was practically shaking in terror, hints of rage, pain, and oddly enough excitement occasionally poking through. When Bastion spoke, his voice was trembling. "I get it. I'll lead you."

"Good." Athena unwrapped her sashes from the mareanie, relaxing. It really was a bluff. She hadn't wanted to do it. Finn would not have been happy if she had killed Bastion. Not even to mention the weight on her conscience. "Finn is that direction."

"Gotcha. Just don't run into any walls." Bastion set off.

Happy to have avoided actual conflict, Athena followed. They would be able to find Finn soon, and then all would be well.

And in the darkness of the cave, Athena was as she always was. Calm, calculating, and analytical.

* * *

For Nyx, the darkness was actually quite normal.

As a gliscor, she was nocturnal. Nyx didn't have any issues with the dark whatsoever. Her eyes could pick out shapes in even the most minimal of light, her ears allowed her to pick out miniscule sounds and utilize echolocation, and even then she had a great sense of direction in the dark. Tight spaces didn't bother her either, actually. As a gligar, she hadn't been able to fly, so she had made do with above average climbing and caving skill. So being trapped in a dark, tight area wasn't an issue for Nyx.

Which was exactly how things were right now. Rocks all around, crowding into her personal space so tightly that she could hardly move. It wasn't really an issue to her. She could use her abilities as a ground-type to make herself an easy tunnel through the rocks, or even through the floor. Nyx carefully reached out to try and feel the rocky surrounding, trying to find a fault in the walls around her.

Almost immediately, she touched something that was warm. It didn't have any more give to it than the rock surrounding it, but it was warm, and most certainly not stone.

Nyx furrowed her brow. What? Curious, Nyx poked it again, harder.

A groan was let out at this point, the warm surface that Nyx had poked shifting slightly. After a moment, the form moved again, groaning in pain all the while. The form tried to push itself up off of the ground, only to collapse again, muttering a curse.

Only then did it click for Nyx. "Belle!"

Belle only groaned again, trying and failing once again to push herself up. Nyx shuffled forwards a bit and scooped her claws under Belle's form, gently lifting the machamp off of the ground. There really wasn't enough space to set her upright, but Nyx could – and did – put her in a sitting position.

"Belle, what happened?" Nyx asked, tilting her head, "I remember the explosion, but everything after that was just… nothing."

"Everything collapsed." Belle had her eyes closed, her breathing even. "I blocked it from crushing you."

"Thank you." Nyx bowed her head, pressing her forehead against Belle's for a few moments. "I'll get us out of here."

That said, Nyx, looked around. She was just under five feet in height, which meant that she had to bow her head to keep from hitting the roof of the little cave that had formed around them. She looked around once again, letting out a nearly inaudible whine. The sound bounced off of the surrounding cave, giving Nyx a vague impression of the shape and structure of the collapsed tunnel.

Careful not to bump Belle, Nyx shuffled and turned to one side. It had been quite a long time since she had used her abilities to dig a tunnel like this, but with luck she hadn't lost her skill.

Taking a deep breath, Nyx closed her eyes. When they snapped open again, Nyx slashed at the stone of the wall, once with each claw. With the X in place, Nyx shot her tail forwards, hitting the center of the mark with a combination of normal force and elemental power.

A rumble shook the small stone chamber as the force of the hit caused the tunnel to rock. Pebbles rained down on the two Pokémon, causing Nyx to turn quickly and try to shelter Belle from them. The machamp's breath was quick and ragged, the odor of sweat radiating off of her. Once the rock settled, Nyx sent out another sonic pulse to see what her work had done.

It seemed that luck was on her side, because the attempt had not only succeeded, but it had made a tunnel that connected to a much larger cavern. Satisfied with her work, Nyx set off down the new tunnel.

After a moment, Nyx paused, turning around. "Belle, are you coming?"

"One… one moment." Belle's voice was small, scared. Nyx tilted her head. With the faint light of the revealed elemental stones in the walls of the new tunnel, Nyx could see Belle.

The machamp was beat up, to say the least. Scrapes, bruises, and large sections of mangled skin covered her body. Bellle's blue-gray skin was glistening with sweat in the faint light, her chest heaving as she took deep breaths. But what had Nyx worried was Belle's face. The machamp had her eyes tightly shut, her face holding a forced calm apart from her furrowed brow and her occasional shudders.

"O-okay." Belle slowly leaned forwards until she was resting her four hands on the ground, and began to crawl towards Nyx. Her progress was slow and punctuated by periodic stops as she tried to breathe. Yet never once did she open her eyes.

And Nyx could hear the machamp, muttering under her breath, "It's not that small, it's not that small."

Nyx backed up a couple steps and extended her tail, nudging it gently against Belle's front left arm. After a moment the machamp reached up and grabbed it, the grip so tight it almost hurt for a moment before it loosened. Once Belle was grabbing on, Nyx began to slowly shuffle forwards.

Moving in this manner, both Pokémon made their way through the little tunnel.

As soon as they were on the other side, Nyx spoke. "We're in a bigger area now, you can open your eyes."

Belle took a deep breath and let it out. After a moment of hesitation, she slowly opened her eyes. Almost immediately, she closed them again.

"Belle?" Nyx asked quietly, scooting closer. "Do you have claustrophobia?"

The machamp hesitated a bit longer, then nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nyx asked.

Again, Belle hesitated. Yet after considering it for a few minutes, she spoke. "It's… a long story."

"I can listen, if you want to tell," Nyx replied softly, "It'll help."

"Okay." Belle nodded. "Okay." Belle hesitated again. "Don't tell the others. Please."

"I won't," Nyx reassured.

"Okay." Belle nodded again, then took a deep breath. "I was born in a laboratory. All they used me for was experiments. But… the worst part was after I escaped…"

And in the darkness of the cave, Nyx did what she did best. She listened.

* * *

For Craitarot, the darkness was oppressing.

He wasn't blinded by it, as he was more than capable of creating his own light, but it didn't make the darkness any less oppressive. The lack of life was… crippling. Not that his psychic and fairy powers weren't working. On the contrary, they were stronger than ever. Instead it was the cave. The damned cave blocked his powers. Too many elemental stones, too much accumulated energy, and too many powerful dark-type Pokémon. Even with his power boost, there was little Crai could do to scan the tunnels.

Speaking of…

Crai rose to his full height, stretching his arms and legs. They were a lot longer, now, though just as spindly as before. His skirt had gotten longer too, so much so that it trailed on the ground when he walked. That was annoying, seeing as it was made of his flesh and skin. Crai looked down and tapped the spike in his chest, sighing. If there was _one_ thing he had wanted, it was to _not_ have evolved into a gardevoir, of all things.

Still, there was nothing he could do now. Nothing but to alter his appearance so that he wasn't as much of a drag queen as he looked now. Taking a deep breath, Crai swept his hands past his head, moving the hair atop his head back and away from his face. Like the rest of his flesh, he could bend it to his will, but even then he didn't want to go too far. That was too much effort. Similarly, he worked on the skirt, shaping it around his legs in the form of a robe. After a moment of thought he shortened it so that it wouldn't drag on the ground, and sent the extra mass to his shoulders, giving himself a broader stature.

Even with that, it didn't make him feel much better.

Shaking his head, Crai started walking. After a couple of stumbles with his new physique, he quickly decided to lift his legs up and float, using his psychic powers to levitate just above the ground. It was easier than trying to walk on his own.

Frustrated by the darkness, Crai lifted his hands and created an orb of light, using the move flash to brighten the cave around him. Sighing, Crai lowered himself to a sitting position again, looking at the reason he had evolved.

Finn was in horrible condition, to be honest. His left leg was completely ruined, broken and covered in blood. A hole was clearly visible in Finn's left foot, blood covering both the sole and the top of his foot. The only reason deadly neurotoxins weren't running through the human's body was because Crai had sent out a safeguard just before Finn stepped down on the toxic spike, the action spurred by a sudden precognition. The poor boy was out cold, still unconscious from the pain.

Yet there was nothing else Crai could do, even with a plethora of healing abilities at his disposal. It was a problem that was widespread across every form of healing tech: if bones were broken, accelerated healing could do more harm than good. There was a chance – a very small one – that it would just heal the bone, but usually it wouldn't. More often than not, trying to heal someone with broken bones would just cause the bone to heal completely wrong. Horror stories of bone spikes spreading through ribcages and bone developing outside of the skin were what kept Crai limited.

Even then, he had done what he could. Using his psychic powers, Crai had bound a strap of cloth around Finn's thigh, cutting off the bloodflow so that he wouldn't bleed out through the hole in his foot. The wound was kept sterilized by repeated safeguards. The broken leg was gently set, but without anything to splint it there wasn't much that Crai could do.

After staring at Finn for a moment, Crai leaned back and sighed. When he spoke, it was with his voice, not his telepathy. His sing-song, tinkly fairy voice that he hated so much. "I hate you. I hate you so much. It's all your fault. You stupid, _stupid_ human.

"You went and got yourself hurt. Now you might even die. And that thought _hurts._ I hate it," Crai's voice was little more than a whisper, yet it was thick with emotion. "I hate you for making me evolve. I hate what I am. I hate this whole Arceus-damned world.

"But most of all, I hate my emotions. I hate that I hate everything. I hate that I'm so _angry_. But most importantly, I hate that I love…" Crai trailed off, his next word barely audible even to himself. "…You."

And there it was. The crux of the issue. He loved Finn. It was painful, and torturous, and it was the truth. "I'm a damn hypocrite. I hate the gardevoir that profess to loving their trainers, and what am I? Just another one in a long line of the same. Just another Arceus-damn gardevoir with a crush on my trainer.

"But how could I not?" Crai wailed, tears welling in his crimson eyes. "You're a wonderful person. You're so kind, so understanding. You're such a beautiful idealist, even with all the pain you've experienced in your life. So I love you, despite my promises to myself. Despite my hatred for everything that I've just become.

"I promised myself that if I evolved into a gardevoir I'd be different, but now that's impossible. I'm cursed to love a human who, until just a few hours ago, I was only following because of a prophecy." Crai swallowed a sob, shaking his head. "But I can't ever leave now, can I? It would hurt even more than staying would. But even then, you'll never love me back, because…"

Oh, there were so many reasons it hurt to love Finn. Even as a gardevoir, the future was so unclear for the unfortunate young man. So many ways he could die, so many ways he could be crippled, or sent into a coma, or sent spiraling into insanity. Not only that, but Finn wasn't romantically inclined in the slightest, certainly not with a _Pokémon_.

"Crai, what's wrong?"

Crai's eyes snapped wide open as he straightened, staring down at Finn. The young man was awake, his eyes looking up at Crai. Crai hastily wiped the tears from his face. _"How much did you hear?"_

"Don't do that again, Crai. I finally get to hear your voice, and then you go back to using telepathy," Finn protested, pushing himself into a sitting position. The young man was looking straight at him, his eyes filled with worry. "Crai, you don't need to be upset."

"Because you understand the problem," Crai muttered, closing his eyes.

"I don't, but I can. Show me, Crai," Finn insisted.

"You won't like it." Crai opened his eyes and reached out, gently caressing Finn's temple.

The touch wasn't just a gesture of affection. With the contact, Crai jumped into Finn's mind, something he had been completely unable to do before. Not wanting to pry into Finn's memories and thoughts, Crai just dumped his emotions there. Frustration, sadness, and crushing hopelessness flooded into Finn's mind, Crai's control slipping as the overwhelming force broke his mental barriers.

And all Crai could do was gently fall forwards, sobs wracking his frail frame as tears streamed down his face.

And Finn caught him, pulling him into a comforting embrace.

The human's own tears were wet on Crai's shoulder as the two sat in the faint glow of the light. After an eternity spent doing nothing but sitting in near-silence, Finn spoke. "I understand."

Crai's breath caught in his throat. "Then you know why it hurts."

"Crai, I might understand, but it's clear that you don't." Finn leaned back, putting his left hand to cup Crai's cheek. With his calloused thumb, Finn wiped away the tears.

"What's not to understand?" Crai whispered hoarsely, "I love you, you mean the world to me. But you don't feel the same."

"Crai, stop for a moment and _feel_. Feel my emotions, like you always do."

Closing his eyes for a moment, Crai took a breath to steady himself. Then he reached out with his mind, feeling for Finn's emotions. There was-

\- Rage, bubbling just below the conscious mind -

\- Sadness, at everything that had happened –

\- Hope, for the future and all it would hold –

\- Concern, for all of his Pokémon -

\- And love, overwhelming all of the other emotions.

Crai opened his eyes, staring at Finn. The teen was staring back, his brown eyes serious. Crai could only ask one question. "Why?"

"Love is when you care so much for someone that you would give your life for them," Finn answered quietly, "By my definition, I love you. I also love Athena, Belle, Nyx, Jitters, and, yes, Bastion. You all mean the world to me."

Finn paused, lowering his gaze. "I know you love me far more than that, but in truth I can't return that. Not honestly."

"So it's as I thought…" Crai closed his eyes again, tears welling up once more.

"Crai, listen to me." Finn lowered his hand, placing it on Crai's shoulder. "I do love you, just not in that way. You're like family to me. I will _always_ be there for you."

Finn once again embraced Crai, holding him close as he wept out his sorrows and pain.

And in the darkness of the cave, Craitarot finally opened his heart to love.

* * *

For Bastion, the darkness was both real and imaginary.

Shards of stone were stuck in his newly-regenerated flesh, tearing up his skin and muscles every time he even tried to breathe. That was hilarious.

Shadows danced at the edge of his vision, sometimes moving even when the light was stationary. Athena was there as well, her abyssal eyes periodically turning to look at Bastion. She was blind, but at the same time more than capable of finding him. That was also hilarious.

But he could also feel his mind roiling and turning in on itself. Moments of sanity blinked in and out amongst the chaos that his thoughts were. It was like the bits of shining stone on the walls. Blink, blink, blink…

To Bastion, the pain, shadows, and even the chaos was absolutely hilarious.

Bastion was well aware that his sanity was less than… stable. He knew full well that finding pleasure in pain wasn't normal. He knew full well that finding pleasure in inflicting pain was even further from normal. He knew even better than that that the way he felt about blood and gore was downright insane. Bastion knew all of these things with absolute clarity.

So why didn't he stop? Bastion knew that these things were messed up. He hated it. It made him chafe, continuing like this. Yet he continued. Why didn't he stop it?

He couldn't help it. He honestly couldn't. It was like something else stepped in and suddenly it was insanity all over again. It was painful.

"So, you got like some sort of internal radar there, Blades?" Bastion asked, glancing up at the floating doublade, "Can you find, like, a burger with it?"

"I just know where Finn is," Athena answered calmly.

"Uh-huh. So you're a Finn-seeking demon." Bastion rolled his eyes. "What happens when we find him dead?"

"We won't. He's alive."

"Followup question, what makes you so sure he'll still be alive when you do find him?" Bastion paused to see her reaction. When she failed to react, he continued. "I mean, you said he stepped on one of my spikes, right? You do know how deadly my toxins are, don't you? Pokémon can only survive because we're more durable than humans, but Finn? He's dead."

Internally, Bastion was cringing. He hadn't wanted to say that. That was the wrong thing to say. He wanted to see Finn healthy, not for Finn to be dead.

But Athena didn't notice. "He's fine. Injured, but not dying. Crai is with him."

"How do you know that?" Bastion asked, genuinely curious.

"I just… do."

"Well, don't do that freaky shit with me. My thoughts are mine." Bastion internally cringed again. That wasn't what he had meant.

Sighing to himself, Bastion raised his tentacles. He knew he had to get the stone shards out eventually, and honestly now was better than later. Using the spikes on the ends of his tentacles, Bastion began slicing into his own skin and flesh, opening bloody wounds so that he could try and remove the rocks within his body. The perverse pleasure he gained from the process was disgusting to his core of sanity, but he continued.

Athena seemed to sense something, because she stopped and turned towards him. "What's going on?"

"Just getting rid of a few pesky things." Bastion opened a massive gash in the side of his head, reaching in with one tentacle and using the spike on the end to pull out a pebble. Regrettably, it was only one of the many stones stuck inside of him, so he continued.

"Bastion, you're in pain. Stop," Athena insisted.

"Stopping's just gonna leave shards of rock in my lungs," Bastion shot back, slicing open his front. Already the gash in the side of his head was healing over, a scab forming over the blue flesh. With his two front tentacles, he dug out a particularly vicious-looking spike of stone.

"I'm serious. Stop." Athena floated forwards, her sashes raised. Bastion paused. Those sashes could do serious damage to him. Heck, they might even be able to kill him. Scared for his life for the second time in the past several years, Bastion tried to dodge the silken purple limbs.

Yet he was far, far slower than the doublade, and eventually she caught him. One purple sash lifted him off the ground, preventing him from struggling. The other, though, reached _through_ him, the intangible limb sweeping through his body and sending chills through his boneless form. Something _twisted_ , if only for a moment, and Bastion screamed out in emotion. Which emotion he wasn't sure of. Something was gone now. It would grow back, like everything else did, but for now it was gone.

Athena, though, had gently set him down and dropped a handful of stone shards on the ground. Right in the middle of the pile was a shiny white tooth, some remnant of a creature that had attacked him. Now she was looking at him, the voids of her eyes staring into his soul.

"Th-thanks." Bastion gasped, patting his body. It was only a second before the internal injuries healed, leaving him painless. "That was bothering me a lot."

The doublade only looked at him, somehow conveying confusion through the gaping holes in her crossbars. "Bastion, what changed?"

"I…" Bastion furrowed his brow, looking down at himself. For a moment, he couldn't figure out what had changed. He was fine now. Thinking clearly, not bothered by pain, and able to openly be himself.

And then it clicked. That was what had changed. He was sane. Athena had swept away his insanity with her ghostly abilities. He laughed, a true, earnest laugh that starkly contrasted with his normal mad cackle. "I'm free! I can think!"

"You…" Athena floated closer. "Free... how?"

"I'm sane! I'm finally sane!" Bastion hopped towards Athena, flinging himself forwards and hugging the shocked doublade with his tentacles. "You set me free! No more pain, no more madness!"

"Whoah, whoah, calm down for a moment." Athena picked Bastion up and set him back on the ground. "I removed those shards, and suddenly you're not the same person as before."

"You also pulled out a tooth." Bastion shuffled over to the pile and picked up the fang, looking at it. "I didn't even know this was _in_ there."

"Hmm." Athena reached out and took the fang, investigating with her sashes. "I think I found this in your head. In your brain, more specifically."

"And now I'm free." Bastion laughed happily, only to suddenly stop. "Oh no."

"What?"

"If this was caused by a tooth in my, in my brain…" Bastion's eyes widened with sudden realization. "What happens when that part of my brain heals? It'll take longer than normal, 'cause it's my brain, but what then?"

Bastion could already feel his brain regenerating, returning to its previous state. The pain was gone now, but when it healed, would that be the case? Frantically, Bastion turned to Athena. "Please, please don't let me do anything bad. Please."

"I won't," Athena answered.

"Alright." Bastion closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. "Alright."

The darkness clouded over his mind again as he regenerated, his brain returning to the same state as all mareanie: bloodthirsty violence. He couldn't fight it, he couldn't deny this truth, but he could hope for the future.

"So, Blades." Bastion opened his eyes, the mad staring returned. "Let's go find the wimp and get the hell out of this cave."

And in the darkness of the cave, Bastion wept for his sanity, and grinned with madness.

* * *

For Jitters, the darkness represented his isolation.

He was always lonely, always alone. It was his own fault, really. He knew this. He did not interact with others, so they thought him unable.

But he wasn't stupid. Jitters knew that he was thought dumb by others. Bastion thought he had little more intelligence than a feral caterpie. Athena, as kind as she was, usually didn't bother to consider that he could process complex thought. Crai rarely bothered to try and use telepathy with him, thinking that his ability to comprehend language was lacking. Belle was nice, like Athena, but she too thought him to be an animal. Only Nyx considered him an equal. Nyx and Finn.

But that was OK. He knew he wasn't as smart as the others. Even Bastion was more intelligent than he was. Jitters made up for it with his skill. He was fast, and he was patient. A combination that let him be a perfect ambush fighter. That was something that none of the others could do.

Jitters was well aware what his strengths were, as well as what the others could do. Belle was strong, incredibly strong. Nyx was silent and swift. Athena was quick and versatile. Bastion was nearly impossible to take down. Crai was smart and psychic. Jitters had his speed and patience.

Yet in the darkness Jitters was so lonely. Like all other times, he was alone. Like when he was with the trapper, Duncan. Nobody around who cared.

He knew that they cared, though. Finn cared. Nyx cared. Athena cared. Belle cared. Crai… was unknowable. Bastion certainly didn't care.

Jitters continued through the cave.

He was ashamed for running, but Finn had told him to. Now he had lost Finn. He could smell lots of Pokémon, lots of dangerous Pokémon. Aegislash, claydol, golurk, krookodile, sableye, mawile, zoroark – Jitters stopped here. He couldn't identify every smell without having to stop moving.

But he could also smell Finn. Quickly changing course, Jitters set off in the direction he could smell his human. He could also smell something else in that direction. Similar to Crai, but subtly different.

Getting to Finn would be the hard part. The tunnels were filled with dangerous Pokémon. There were natural hazards, too. Stones infused with poisonous power that would burn like acid when they were touched. Fire stones that were too newly-formed, and charred the nearby stone. Icy formations that forced Jitters to go around with how cold they were.

But the ceiling was safe, actually. There were a few dangerous elemental stones set into the ceiling, but he could easily avoid them.

In fact, it was so easy to avoid them that Jitters encountered no dangers whatsoever for a good while. But eventually he did find something that gave him pause.

A massive cluster of spiked shapes, the scent of pollen and steel all over the place. Jitters looked at the forms in curiosity. Yellow eyes stared back at him, peeking out of steely grey orbs with green spikes embedding them in the ceiling.

Jitters slowly creeped forwards and chittered a greeting. "Hello?"

The ferroseed just stared at him.

"Hi?" Jitters tried again.

The ferroseed stared.

Then one of them spoke. "Not like you."

"Why?" Jitters asked, confused.

"Intruder."

"Smell like human."

"Smell like surface."

"Not like."

The ferroseed spoke one at a time, their voices all overlapping. Then the first one to speak spoke again. "Brother kill you."

"Brother?" Jitters backed away, looking around. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary here. It was just a huge gathering of ferroseed.

Then a huge shape lowered itself from the mess of ferroseed, and Jitters realized why he didn't see it at first. The massive Pokémon was the same color and patterning as its smaller brethren, though much, much larger. Three long, vinelike limbs reached out of the gathering of ferroseed, planting into the walls as the ferrothorn revealed itself. As soon as its eyes were visible, its hateful glare stared at Jitters. "Not like intruder."

"I will leave. I need to pass through," Jitters explained quickly.

"Talk fast. Not like fast talker," The ferrothorn ground out. It pulled one of its limbs out of the wall, causing stone and debris to rain down.

And with terrifying speed, it launched its free limb towards Jitters.

Jitters wasn't about to be caught off-guard by this, though. He immediately launched to the side, dodging the attack by hurtling himself onto the wall. With his new angle, Jitters released a discharge of electrical energy to zap all of the ferroseed and the ferrothorn simultaneously.

Nothing happened.

Right.

Ferroseed were grass/steel. Discharge was electric type. Steel did not resist electric. Grass resisted electric. Ferroseed resisted electricity.

But grass _was_ weak to bug, even though steel resisted it.

Jitters had to leap aside again as another spiked limb shot across the tunnel, slamming into the wall where Jitters had been just moments before. Each movement he made caused more of his hairs to fly off and float in the air, accumulating an incredibly devastating pin missile attack. Once the air was almost choked with the hairs, Jitters leaped directly into the middle of the group of ferroseed, bringing his attack with him.

All around him, the ferroseed were falling to the ground, spikes shooting all over the cave as they detonated from the impact with the ground. But the ferrothorn was completely unaffected by the pin missile, hurtling one of its limbs at Jitters in another bid to crush him.

So Jitters scrambled forwards, towards the large grass/steel type, and released his newest move.

Bug buzz was often underestimated, simply due to the fact that it seemed like just sound. Yet there was something about it that worked its way into the mind of the target, the insidious whispering of the invasive bug type power sent some into gibbering terror.

And it seemed to have been the right move to use on the ferrothorn, as it immediately recoiled, wrapping its vine limbs around its body as it shuddered on the ground.

Jitters turned and continued through the cave.

The distance Jitters traveled from there was a lot more than he would bother to remember. It didn't really matter anyways. It was just uneventful traveling.

Yet eventually, Jitters could see artificial light.

Creeping carefully forwards, Jitters listened. There was one set of footsteps. There was the sound of two people breathing. There was the scent of Finn, as well as Crai.

At that point, Jitters began running forwards. After turning a corner in the tunnel, he was overjoyed to see Finn walking through the tunnel. The ghostly white figure next to him was unimportant. What mattered was that he had found Finn. His trainer.

Jitters launched himself forwards, towards Finn. His human recoiled for a second, the ghostly creature steadying him, but when Finn saw Jitters he smiled. "Hey buddy. Where've you been?"

Jitters just chittered happily, nuzzling Finn's uninjured leg.

And in the darkness of the cave, Jitters found confidence.

* * *

For Belle, the darkness was fear.

Not that she was scared of the dark. Her enhancements gave her perfect night vision, even in this near-complete darkness. Not only that, but the creatures that lurked in darkness had a vulnerability to her strengths, more often than not. No, the darkness held nothing that scared Belle.

But it represented her fears.

Belle had many fears that she kept to herself. Many of her fears were practical, such as the fear that she would be killed in battle, while others were less so.

And right now, the one pressing on her mind was the claustrophobia currently plaguing her.

It was crushing, how little space she had in the cavern. It reminded Belle of everything that she had beem through, of the crushing enclosure in the laboratory, and even worse of the trials she had gone through after her escape. Since reaching the surface, she had never been back in such a tightly enclosed space as the little chamber that the collapse had caused.

But Nyx was there, and Nyx had helped her get out of the claustrophobic space. Nyx had helped her in her dark time.

"…And that's when Finn caught me," Belle finished quietly, "But you know that."

"Wow, that's… horrible." Nyx's eyes were wide. "I'm so sorry that had to happen to you."

"Can't change it now." Belle shrugged. "I just want to get out of here. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."

"Of course. I wouldn't want to be here after that either." Nyx rose from her sitting position and squeaked, letting the sound travel down the tunnels. "I'll find a way through. Just follow me."

Belle nodded, also standing. "Lead on."

Normally, Belle didn't like to let others tell her what to do. It was demeaning, and there were a plethora of personal reasons that she didn't want to be ordered around. But usually the ones doing the ordering were males, and they usually just expected her to go along with it. It was infuriating. Now, though, was different. Nyx was respectful, and at the same time she was helping Belle leave the crushingly tight spaces of the caves.

So Nyx began to walk out of the cave, periodically letting out a high-pitched squeak to scout out the cave. Belle didn't know how it worked, but she trusted Nyx's judgement. After everything that Belle had just told her, it would be stupid not to.

Nyx shot a glance back over her shoulder and smiled kindly. "You don't have to be scared. I can see everything here."

Belle just nodded, trying to imagine the dark space as much, much larger than it was.

To be honest, the cave itself was rather pretty. Many huge gemstones dotted the walls, sparkling with their own inner light. The stalactites were arrayed in fascinating shapes, some of them unearthly in form. There were even spots where the stone in the walls looked like flowing water, the work of thousands of years of water and pressure resulting in some of the most beautiful formations Belle had ever seen underground.

But something was off. Something worse than the claustrophobia that clouded her mind.

Eventually Nyx stopped, tilting her head. "I see… several humanoid shapes. Five. You think they're humans?"

Honestly, Belle didn't know, but she feared the worst. "No."

"Well, we can't really avoid them. They're right in our way. Maybe we can talk our way through." Nyx continued on, walking through the tunnel calmly.

But Belle knew better.

It was only a little bit more before they encountered the humanoid shapes face to face. As Belle had suspected, they certainly weren't going to just accept a talking-to.

From left to right, each one was a different species. The furthest left was a scrawny figure, though far taller than most of its species, its eyes were gemstones that glinted in the darkness, the clawed hands holding a massive ruby. Occasionally the purple-skinned creature would lift the ruby to its mouth and use its vicious teeth to take a bite out of the gem. Around its neck was a string made out of ferrothorn vines, dried eyeballs attached to its necklace. The sableye cackled as it spotted Belle and Nyx.

The next one was a similarly scrawny shape, though its skin had a sickly luster to it. Its defining features were the massive mustache on its face and the impossibly skinny limbs. Instead of the spoons that alakazam traditionally carried, this one had a staff made out of bones in its right hand, keeping itself upright by sheer force of will.

In the middle was a figure Belle had hoped to never see again. It was a male machoke, his muscles bulging as he swaggered into view. A massive diamond was dangling from a string around his neck, bouncing against his overly muscular form. The most notable thing, though, was the crown atop his head. Dozens of different kinds of teeth were used to make the horrible symbol of power, and the machoke had acquired each one himself.

To the right of the machoke was a far stouter figure. Its body was made of stone, and though it would normally be spherical in shape, someone had used a chisel and a great deal of strength to carve its form into a muscular shape. The golem was incredibly sure on its feet, the sheer weight of its form causing the ground beneath its feet to crack.

The last Pokémon to appear was a furred form, its grey fur missing in spots from damage and scarring. The red claws on the ends of its thin arms were caked with blood and dirt. Its massive head of red hair was mangy and torn, and the huge ponytail was held together by a skull with a hole punched in it. After a second, its shape flickered, replaced by a far healthier and stronger-looking version of itself.

Belle growled, dropping into a combat stance. " _You_."

"The lost child returns." The machoke chuckled darkly. "And she brought a friend. Are you going to listen now?"

"I will _not_ obey you," Belle growled

"But that's what females _all_ do." The machoke stepped forwards, crossing his arms. "I am the alpha. You bow to me."

"Not a chance, asshole," Belle spat.

"Master." The sableye suddenly appeared next to the machoke, his mad grin glinting in the darkness. "They are human-trained now."

"Hmm, yes they are." The alpha rubbed his chin. "Well, not that it matters. We have more than a few ex-human trained Pokemon."

"They will not bend to your whim anymore, master," The alakazam spoke up, his voice quavering.

"Then let's kill 'em!" The zoroark grinned, his rotting teeth revealed to the world.

"Well, Belle was always the strongest female I've seen…" the alpha muttered. "But even with her evolution and a friend, we can easily take her out. We outnumber them." The machoke nodded. "Yes. Kill them."

What followed was definitely a lot of action.

Belle slammed her fist into the golem's face, sending him flying back into the cave. She turned to attack the zoroark, only to find him flickering in and out of existence as she tried to land a hit. The zoroark cackled madly and slashed at her with his horrible claws.

Then Nyx screamed.

The shockwave of Nyx's screeching would ordinarily only be enough to set an opponent off-guard, but with the sheer emotion she put into it the entire battlefield froze. The machoke covered his ears, the alakazam flinched backwards, and the sableye started to claw at the sides of his head. Most importantly, though, the zoroark solidified into a single image, covering his tattered ears with his hands.

Belle took this opportunity to plant a fist in his face.

As the zoroark was reeling from the hit, Belle turned to look at the other combatants. The golem was coming back, but he was slow enough that it would be a bit before he arrived. Nyx was faring quite well against the alakazam, her abilities allowing her to dodge and retaliate when the alakazam only launched bursts of elemental energy. The machoke was still trying to recover from the screech. But the sableye, with its bleeding ears, was creeping up on Nyx with its claws raised.

"Nyx!" Belle screamed.

Then a shadow-wreathed form shot out of the tunnel, spinning around fast enough to cleave the air apart. One blade embedded itself in the sableye's chest, while the other cleanly sliced the ghost/dark-type's arms off.

Another shape, which the first had been carrying the whole time, had dropped onto the alakazam's head and was cackling madly. Spiked tentacles were stabbing into the psychic type's head and neck, injecting possibly lethal toxins into the alakazam.

The cavalry had arrived.

As the sableye regenerated his hand, Athena continued to force him back, using her blades to keep him far at bay from Nyx. Bastion continued to cackle as the alakazam fired bursts of energy at him, the few that actually hit doing minimal damage. Nyx, though, had changed targets, using her ground-type powers to assault the rock-type Pokémon.

With the others out of the way, Belle charged the machoke.

He wasn't expecting her to slam the sides of his skull with her upper hands, embedding the teeth of his crown into his skin. Neither was he expecting her to grab the diamond around his neck, pull him forwards, and then slam him in the face with her last hand so hard that the string snapped and he went flying backwards.

Belle walked forwards and looked at the now unconscious machoke, spitting on him. He wasn't dead, but he was bleeding from the sides of his head, had a completely ruined face, and there were cuts in the back of his neck from the string. Now the alpha male looked downright pitiful. Belle tightened her grip on the diamond. She would keep it as a trophy.

Without warning, something blurred across the cave, moving faster than the eye could track. The zoroark drew his claws back, energy shimmering as he slashed towards Belle's stomach.

But Athena was already moving, a blue orb shooting from the tip of one of her blades to slash across the zoroark's chest. Fur and flesh parted beneath the sacred sword, holy light blasting the dark-type backwards. The zoroark hit the cave wall hard, falling into a heap on the ground.

When Belle examined the battlefield, she really wasn't surprised to find that her friends were the victors. The sableye was melting into a wall, his necklace of eyeballs torn apart and one of his own eyes missing from its socket, the alakazam was unconscious, purple-tinged blood leaking out of a hundred puncture wounds in his upper body, and the golem was broken down to nothing but a scrawny body, all excess stone broken off.

Belle closed his eyes and sighed in satisfaction.

And in the darkness of the cave, Belle sealed one more part of her past away.

* * *

For Finn, the darkness was simply an absence of light.

Of course, that was what darkness scientifically was. It was where light wasn't. There was nothing more about it than that. Finn understood that others had problems with it, but he honestly didn't. It made it hard to see, yes, but it didn't terrify him to be in darkness; it didn't hurt him.

To Finn, the only threat posed by the cave was the physical one.

Granted, the physical threats that the history caverns imposed were most definitely dangerous. Vicious wild Pokémon, pitfalls, dangerous elemental accumulations, and hateful geography all worked together to make the History caves one of the deadliest places on the planet. The only similarly dangerous places that Finn knew of were Cerulean Cave, Mount Silver, Origin Cave, Stark Mountain, and other places that legendaries were said to reside.

But that was off-topic, to be honest, and it didn't help in the current situation.

His left leg was broken, which meant that Crai had to stand really close in order to use his amorphous body to act as a living splint. Crai was also doing his best to help Finn walk with only one leg, which was actually not that big of a deal when Crai could use telekinesis on Finn.

Jitters did his best to help too, but there was honestly nothing he could do. He was just a galvantula, after all, and he couldn't help Finn in this situation.

But Finn wasn't discouraged. He knew what his Pokemon could and couldn't do, and didn't expect them to do what they couldn't.

What Finn was more worried about had to do with the health of his Pokémon.

Athena's eyes were busted. Finn knew this, but he didn't quite understand how he knew. Yes, Darrell had sent his probopass in to destroy Athena's eyes, but ordinarily that didn't affect anything. This time, though, Finn _knew_ that Athena was blind.

Bastion was… off. Something about Bastion was abnormal, and Finn didn't know what it was. He acted flippant to absolutely everything, but at the same time he gave off an aura of self-loathing. Finn didn't know how he knew this, but he did.

Belle was traumatized by something in the history caves. Finn knew this for a fact. Even though the torture she had endured while in the plasma outpost was horrible, it wasn't enough to mess her up as much as she was now. Something had happened in the interim between her escape and Finn finding her.

Crai was emotionally damaged. He had never allowed himself to love before now, and as such he was unable to control his emotions. The poor gardevoir was emotionally crippled, which could leave him messed up for the whole of his life. And Finn's inability to love Crai the same way the gardevoir loved him wasn't going to help.

Nyx and Jitters, though, were both fine. Both physically and mentally. Jitters' tic had vanished when he evolved, leaving him faster and at the same time far more patient. Nyx was, and always had been, completely stable. Compared to Finn's other Pokémon, Nyx and Jitters were normal.

There was something else that was somewhat worrying to Finn. As Crai helped him walk through the tunnels, Finn looked at his right hand. Scars covered the callused skin, old burns and other flesh wounds abounding. Everything was perfectly normal, until he looked at his fingertips.

The very tips of Finn's fingers were translucent. Light shined through them, he could see the outline of the cave formations through his fingers, and every time he moved his right hand there was a faint trail of purple. It was like his fingertips had taken on ghost type traits.

Not that he was eager to test it out, though. If his hand _had_ taken on ghostlike traits, then that was mildly terrifying, and it would mean that team Plasma had in their hands a sample of human/ghost-type DNA that had been caused naturally. No genetic experiments, nothing. If they had that on their hands, then they'd be able to recreate it flawlessly. Which meant that Ghetsis hadn't been bluffing when he said that he had the secret to combining two living beings.

"Finn, what're you thinking about?" Crai asked. It was much, much better to hear his actual voice. The telepathic voice Crai had used really had no tone, no real voice. It was just information transmitted to the brain.

Finn shook his head. "It's not really important right now. I'll tell you later."

"Well, I trust your judgement." Crai nodded.

Jitters stiffened suddenly, chittering. After a moment, he shot off into the tunnels, chittering frantically.

"What did he say?" Finn furrowed his brow. Sometimes it was irritating, not understanding Jitters.

"Um. He didn't," Crai answered, scratching his head.

That was odd. Jitters didn't speak? Maybe he just didn't have anything to say? That was incredibly strange.

After a minute, Jitters returned, still chittering frantically.

"Wait, Jitters! Come back!" Finn recognized the voice as Nyx, immediately lightening up.

"Nyx?" Finn called out.

Moments later, Nyx walked around a corner, her eyes wide. "Oh my gosh! Finn!" Nyx turned back around and raised her claws to her mouth. "They're here! Finn, Crai, and Jitters are here!"

Three more shapes came around the corner, each one making Finn happier and happier. There was Belle, rubbing a bruised spot on her arm. There was Athena, her eyes broken, but still confidently navigating towards him and carrying Bastion in the process. Athena turned her broken eyes towards Finn, and he felt like his heart was breaking. She was hurt. She was blind.

But she wasn't crippled.

Athena floated towards Finn, gently setting Bastion on the ground. Finn reached out and took one of her sashes in his hand. "Athena, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Blind, but fined" Athena assured him. She floated around Finn and attached herself to his bag strap. "We've been through a lot."

"I bet you have," Finn replied quietly.

"She's just being a wimp. She's fine," Bastion remarked, walking over to Finn's leg and looking up at him. "So you're not dead. Shame. Would've been nice to know that my toxins work on humans."

"You little-," Crai began, only for Finn to cut him off.

"Bastion, return." Finn recalled the mareanie, not willing to deal with his normal attitude. Something was up, he knew that. Maybe Athena or Crai could tell him later.

Belle walked up to Finn slowly, her head bowed. When she reached Finn, she looked up at him, holding out a gemstone in her hands. "Could you hold on to this for me?"

"Of course." Finn furrowed his brow in confusion, but took the gemstone and put it in his bag. The gem vanished in a flash of light, transformed into energy.

When Finn looked up at Belle again, she reached out and gingerly wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough."

"You don't have to be strong, Belle. You just have to do your best." Finn returned the hug. After a moment, he spoke again, "I, uh, can't stand without help, and Crai's just moved away so we could hug. Could you help me?"

"I'm sorry!" Belle's eyes widened and she wrapped one arm around Finn's shoulders, helping him to stand.

"It's no problem. I'm just glad you're safe." Finn leaned over and laid his head on Belle's shoulder.

Nyx came forwards at this point, her golden eyes big and shining in the darkness. "Finn, we're nearly out. I can see – well, sense, the exit."

"Thank you, Nyx." Finn took a deep breath, happy to be reunited with his Pokémon. "Let's go home."

And as they walked towards the light, Finn's emotions were at peace.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hoo boy, this chapter was a doozie.**

 **My longest single chapter to date, it's around ten thousand words long. I wanted to offer insight into the minds of all of our main characters, so that they could each get the spotlight they deserve. I'll talk about each of them a little bit here.**

 **Athena's always been Finn's primary Pokémon. She's basically his ace in the hole. While Belle's a powerhouse, Athena knows Finn's strategies both inside and out. There's something about her and Finn that I'm not going to reveal just yet, but I'm sure you can piece it together if you look at the details.**

 **Nyx, Finn's second Pokemon, is easily the one to have received the least attention from me. Jitters has been in more fights than she has, despite being slightly newer to the team. But Nyx is far from unimportant. She cares, and that is her primary character trait and strength.**

 **Crai, despite being the latest addition to Finn's team, is one of the most important. As revealed here, he loves Finn. It fits with gardevoir lore actually, seeing as they are _always_ loyal to their trainer, and will sacrifice themselves to protect their trainer in dire situations. If that doesn't fit love to a T, I don't know what does. Add in that Crai hates gardevoir, is a cynical nihilist, and doesn't like softer emotions, and you have yourself some drama.**

 **Bastion's always been hard for me to pin down. I've always wanted him to be morbid and rude, but it was only fairly recently that I decided to actually make him insane. I'm certain I got the psychology and neuroscience wrong, but I don't care. They're magical animals. Maybe it's some kind of instinct that makes mareanie vicious killers.**

 **Jitters can, in fact, talk to Finn. He just never has. Not once has Jitters spoken any words in Finn's presence. He's not stupid, as illustrated here, but he thinks procedurally. He has to process a thought before he can move on to something else. Still, as an ambush fighter this doesn't do much to hinder him.**

 **Belle, well, we all know she's messed up in the head. Not even taking into account what happened to her in the Plasma outpost, she's been through a lot. I'm saving the full story for later on, but for now you get a bit of insight into the situation. You also get to meet some of the tribal Pokemon that live in History Cave.**

 **Finn's experiencing a lot of things right now. You've all had insight into who he is the whole time the story has been going, so I don't think I need to elaborate here.**

 **This was a huge character building chapter. From here on out, all plotlines are sealed. I know exactly what I'm doing with each character, and I know exactly how many characters I'm adding and changing from here. There may be exceptions of course (nobody can plan that much) but for now know that I have a plan.**

 **As always, please leave a review to let me know what you think!**

 **Now read on!**


	35. King

What makes someone a good leader?

Many would say that it's the ability to make good decisions. This is, to a degree, true. Yet at the same time, it's not entirely correct. A leader needs the ability to make decisions, any decisions at all. They do not have to be right, but they do have to be decisive. Making good decisions is a major positive to this, but not required, per se.

Others would say that a good leader needs to be charismatic. They need to be able to command the respect of their followers, and to be able to persuade them to follow. Again, this is true to a degree, but there are a great many leaders who are not charismatic. Again, it helps a great deal, but it is not entirely necessary.

No, what a leader really needs is to respect their followers. The greatest leaders treat their followers as equals, and are only willing to put their followers through the same things they would endure.

Many of the great leaders of history do not follow this tenet. They throw away their followers when they lose use, and think of themselves as the most important part of any plan.

They are wrong.

At the end of the day, these people are remembered as nothing more than villains.

While those who respect their followers, those who treat them as equals?

They are kings.

* * *

There's a flower, deep within the History Caves, that only blooms in direct sunlight.

It's a complete mystery as to why this is the case, but it is. The flowers grow in absolute darkness, surrounded by elemental energies and fertile soil. They cannot pollinate in the darkness of the caves, but they grow regardless.

And every year, hundreds upon hundreds of flabebe go into the darkness of the caves to find these flowers and bring them to the sunlight. The flowers bloom with translucent petals that shimmer like a rainbow, and the pollen floats to all of the other flowers. Dozens of flabebe die in these mass movements, but they still do it every single year.

Finn felt like one of those flowers, brought to the surface by loving and caring hands. Belle was on his right, holding him up as he limp-hopped out of the darkness. Crai was to his left, holding his broken leg together with his psychic powers and shapeshifting abilities. Athena was on his back, her sashes gently wrapped around his neck and shoulders like some kind of scarf.

When he finally felt the sun on his face, Finn could only smile happily. They were all here, and they were safe. Well, close enough. Athena was blind, but apart from that all of his Pokémon were physically healthy. Belle had already healed from her various scrapes, cuts, and bruises.

"Okay, now that we're outside, I think I can make myself some crutches." Finn pointed at a tree. "Nyx, could you cut down a nice, sturdy branch?"

"Yup." Nyx launched herself up to the tree, slicing down a branch that was almost as tall as Finn was. Happy with her work, she dropped back down and picked up the branch, carrying it back to Finn.

"Alright Athena, you think you can slice through oak wood?" Finn asked, drawing Athena's blades.

"Absolutely," Athena answered confidently.

"Good. Crai, hold it up with your telekinesis, please." Crai nodded and set to work. Finn turned to Belle. "Could you hold me in place, please?"

Once the branch was floating in front of him, Finn set to work. With Belle holding him upright, he was easily able to slice and slash the branch into shape. Not a fancy shape, but a serviceable one. He made sure to cut a bit off the bottom, making it so that when they were set down, the tops would be level with his armpits. Satisfied with the vague crutch-shape of the branch, Finn sliced it down the middle, making one into two.

His work done, Finn sheathed Athena. Crai quickly moved the crutches over to Finn, allowing him to grab the newly-carved tools and put them into place under his armpits. He hesitated for a moment, though, glancing at his left leg. "Crai, could you splint this?"

"One second." Crai glanced into the trees, then flicked one hand. A branch flew out of the undergrowth and came to a halt next to Finn's broken leg. Crai carefully unwrapped the tendrils of himself that he had in place, using strips of fabric torn from Finn's pant legs to tie the splint into place. "Done."

Finn took a deep breath. "Alright Belle, you can let me go."

When Belle let Finn drop, he quickly grabbed onto his crutches and used them to balance himself. He was careful to keep his broken leg off the ground, using only his uninjured right leg and his crutches for balance. Cautiously, he lifted himself up and moved his right leg forwards, then put his weight on that leg and swung his crutches forwards. After repeating a couple times, he was confident that he could easily maneuver in this fashion.

Nodding to his Pokémon, Finn resumed his trip down the road to Bluebell City. Going home was something that Finn had mixed feelings on. On one hand, it was always nice to go home. But on the other hand, it would mean that his mother would start pestering him about everything.

He could see it now. 'Finn, when I went to pick you up from Vernac you weren't there!'. 'Finn, you didn't call to tell me you had a full team of six!'. 'Finn, I can't believe you broke your leg!'. She was more than a bit overprotective. Finn honestly didn't blame her for this when he took into account everything he had gone through, but it did get a bit annoying.

Even then, he both needed and wanted to go home. He needed to challenge the steel type gym, and he wanted to see both his mother and Professor Aspen.

For some reason, a headache was building.

Shaking his head, Finn looked around. The forest was nice, but it was pretty much exactly the same as the forest between Aspen's lab and the city. Nothing much to look at.

But strong wingbeats drew Finn's attention skyward.

Overhead was a huge shape, its wings beating downwards as it circled. A quick squint upwards revealed red and blue markings, cluing Finn in to the bird's species. It was odd, though. Braviary never came to this area. They rarely ever landed, either.

Yet this braviary was landing, coming down to deposit a rider. The lanky form atop the braviary dropped to the ground, reaching up to pet the massive bird atop the head. "Thank you for the ride."

The braviary bowed its head, then took off, flying away.

Finn could only stare in amazement. This guy had solicited a ride from a braviary, then sent it away. Which probably meant that it wasn't even his Pokemon. In fact, it was entirely likely that the braviary was wild.

The young man that had been riding the braviary stretched for a moment, then turned and started walking towards Finn. His massive mess of green hair was compressed under a simple black and grey baseball cap, the tail trailing behind him as he walked. From a string around his neck dangled a strange black orb with blue and yellow trails on it. The young man absentmindedly fiddled with a puzzle cube that was chained to his belt as he walked towards Finn. "Hello there. Did you just come out of the tunnel?"

"Yes," Finn replied warily. Something about this young man was… odd. He gave off a different atmosphere than most people, and Finn didn't trust it.

"Were you at the other side when it collapsed?" The young man asked. It wasn't exactly an accusation, but there was an implication there.

"I was," Finn answered guardedly.

"Did you collapse the tunnel?" Again, it wasn't quite an accusation. Not quite.

"No. No I didn't." Finn wasn't going to elaborate unless this man asked. He wasn't about to trust some stranger, not after he'd been burned so much.

The young man crossed his arms. "Could you please tell me what happened to collapse the tunnel?"

 _"Look, it was a team Plasma member who has a grudge against Finn. He rigged the tunnel to collapse then accidentally detonated it. Finn is completely innocent here,"_ Crai argued, stepping forwards angrily.

From out of nowhere, a grey and red form appeared. Its red claws were pressed to Crai's throat as it tilted its head. The young man raised a hand and sighed. "Zoroark, please do not. He was protecting his trainer." Then, he spoke to Crai. "You need not use telepathy."

 _"Uh-huh."_ Crai relaxed as the zoroark stepped away. _"Sure. And you can speak to Pokémon."_

"Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is N." N smiled. "And I can, in fact, speak to Pokémon."

 _"I'll believe that,"_ Crai said sarcastically. _"And any moment you're going to reveal that you're also the champion, the lord of the legendary Pokemon, and Arceus himself, right?"_

"I cannot honestly say that I am any of those things, and I understand your suspicion. I don't much like psychics in my head." N touched the orb on his necklace. "But I am affiliated with _one_ legendary Pokémon, and I can prove my abilities if you wish."

"You know a legendary Pokémon? Which one?" Nyx asked, not expecting a response.

"Well, seeing as you likely wouldn't believe me if I just told you, I may as well call him," N answered, looking straight at the gliscor. He smiled, then stuck his fingers in his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. Almost immediately the air was filled with electricity, and Finn could feel his hair standing on end.

Then a massive black form dropped out of the sky to land next to N. Its huge body was covered in armor plating and scales, displaying its reptilian nature. The massive Pokémon bent down, its crimson eyes staring at Finn. The huge lightning bolt tail began to thrum with electrical power as the dragon glared at Finn. A deep voice resonated through Finn's mind, bypassing his ears.

 **[** You are cursed, human. Why does a cursed one such as you pester my companion? **]**

"Zekrom, please do not attack him." N stepped forwards, reaching up to place a hand on the massive dragon. At his touch, the monstrous Pokémon calmed, straightening. N turned his attention back to Finn. "But at the same time, he does have a point. You are… strange. You are scarred by a honedge, but are still alive. Not only that, but Zoroark tells me that your aura is dark. Tell me, what is your name?"

"Finnegan Ferris," Finn breathed, staring up at Zekrom. Never in his life had he imagined being so close to a creature that radiated such power. He looked at N. "You're _the_ N, aren't you? The king of team Plasma?"

"King no more, I must say," N replied calmly. "Team Plasma was always Ghetsis' tool. There are those that still follow my vision, but I do not see them as followers." N shook his head before continuing. "But you must be the one I've heard about. Many of the people who view me as their leader have ways of contacting me, and more than a few have informed me of the incredibly resourceful young man who has been making his way up the ranks. Imagine my surprise when I find that he is cursed with a dark heart."

"I can't help the way I was born," Finn muttered, still staring at Zekrom in awe.

"None of us can." N sighed. "Some of us have power that sets us apart, some of us are cursed to forever be pariahs. Those who are lucky are born normal."

"Well, we know about that," Finn replied, glancing at Belle.

N followed Finn's glance and took a step towards Belle. He looked her in the eye for a moment, then stuck his hand out, palm upwards. "A pleasure to meet you."

Belle stared at N for a minute. Finn looked on with growing apprehension. On one hand, Belle was much better than she had been before. But on the other, Finn knew that she hated males. If she went off on N here, then Zekrom and N's zoroark would probably retaliate, seeing how protective they were.

But his worry was unfounded, as Belle took his hand. "Hello."

With Belle's hand in his, N pulled her arm to its full extension and examined it. "Extremely dense musculature, a great deal of tissue scarring, which is healed, and lightning quick reflexes. You, miss, are one extremely fit machamp. I do believe you have the advantage of me, as you know my name while I do not know yours."

"My name's Belle," She answered quietly. It seemed she didn't quite know what to make of N. He was prodding and somewhat invasive, but at the same time he seemed to have no malicious intent whatsoever. But there was something about him that just put Finn on edge.

"Belle. What an interesting name," N commented, releasing Belle's arm and stepping back. "Tell me, did you choose it yourself?"

"More or less," Belle replied warily.

"Hmm, well, most wild Pokemon do not need names. They don't understand the concept. I take it you were raised in captivity?" N asked.

"Yes. I was an experiment," Belle said, her voice barely audible.

"Look, what I don't understand is how you can talk to Pokémon. It's confusing enough that Finn can understand us, but you can too? What's going on?" Crai asked, interrupting.

"From what I understand, I am blessed." N reached up to pat Zekrom's arm. "I am chosen by fate to have a white aura, an aura that allows me to bond with any I meet. Not simply to become friends, but to link my consciousness with theirs. It is not a strong connection, initially, but it is more than enough for us to easily understand one another." N furrowed his brow, turning his attention to Finn once more. "But you can understand your Pokémon? One with a dark heart such as you?"

 **[** This human has an abomination of an aura. He takes from those around him, utilizing his dark aura to steal the life-force of others. **]**

"What?" Finn's eyes widened as he looked up at Zekrom. "Can you explain what's going on?"

 **[** No. **]**

"But you just said-,"

 **[** I will not explain to you. One with your aura would abuse the power. **]**

"Zekrom, he has good intent." N soothed the massive black dragon.

 **[** I cannot be assured of this. There is no way to be certain. His aura blocks him from scrutiny. Until it does not, I will not speak to him of things he may use to upset the balance of the world. **]**

"Reshiram would tell him," N prodded, sounding like a child.

 **[** And I am not Reshiram! **]** Zekrom snorted. **[** She is too trusting. **]**

"But I thought that you were the champion of ideals." Finn furrowed his brow.

 **[** Do not attempt to tell me what I am, mortal. I have lived thousands upon thousands of years longer than your puny race has- **]**

"Zekrom, this is not the time for arguing," N interjected, and immediately Zekrom stopped. "Do not forget that both you and Reshiram shared the same outlook at one point."

 **[** The time we were as one is long gone. It is not, and never will be, fact again. **]**

Something in Finn's brain clicked. "Wait, you and Reshiram were the same Pokémon once?"

 **[** Yes. It is a deep part of Unova lore. We created the region from the wasteland and brought life to it. We were almost as powerful as Arceus, once. But humans pulled us apart. In this current era of humans, becoming one with Reshiram again would mean the end of the world. **]**

"From one came two, and the two must act as one. Yet should two once more become one, the world shall come undone," Finn muttered.

Immediately Zekrom lifted him off the ground, the dragon's claws tight around his torso and forcing Finn to drop his crutches. **[** How did you hear that?! **]**

"D-Darkrai! Darkrai told me!" Finn protested, trying to breathe as the crushing weight of Zekrom's strength squeezed his lungs. "He and Cresselia!"

 **[** Those two. Always meddling in mortal affairs. **]** Zekrom snorted, dropping Finn. Immediately Crai dashed forwards, catching Finn with his telekinesis. **[** I am not permitted to speak of this matter. Not at all. If you are smart, mortal, then you will cease pursuing this false prophecy and live your life as best you can. For one such as you, it spells death. **]**

And then Zekrom was gone, flying off far faster than anything Finn had ever seen.

Crai gently set Finn down on his good leg, bringing Finn's crutches to him. "Man, what a bastard. Didn't even give you a chance."

"Zekrom is… overprotective and set in his ways. Quite ironic, given what he has stood for historically. Despite being the icon of the future and the champion of ideals, he is hidebound." N shook his head, stepping forwards. "I apologize for him. But what was that he said about a prophecy?"

Finn's mind was working overtime as he steadied himself. He could feel rage bubbling up inside, outrage at the legendary's absurd actions, but he quashed it. Instead, he spoke. "It's, um not something I told my Pokemon, though I probably should have." Finn cast a glance at Belle, Crai, Jitters, and Nyx. "Darkrai visited me a few months ago and delivered a prophecy about two things that once were one, and that if they were reunited it would end the world." Finn paused, looking up into the sky where Zekrom had flown off. "And now I think I know what it's about."

"Many horrible people have sought after a way to control Reshiram and Zekrom before. Few have ever succeeded." N paused, his face going dark. "But they've never had a way to combine them into one."

Finn's head started spinning. "Until now. Ghetsis has a way to combine two living entities into one."

"How do you know?" N asked, tilting his head.

"Because I'm living proof…" Finn set himself on his right crutch and lifted his right hand. The faint purple trails were visible, but only barely so. Finn felt as though he was about to pass out. This was enormous.

"So Ghetsis can at last recreate the dragon that shaped Unova." N's eyes widened in shock. "This could spell doom."

"We need. We need to stop them." Finn felt as though his lungs were collapsing, he was finding it hard to breathe. "We need to stop Ghetsis."

"Finn, are you alright?" Crai stepped forwards, eyes wide in concern.

"I, I, I, I…" Finn blinked, and was surprised to find the world spinning. "Um. Maybe."

"He's not fine. Finn's suffering." Athena detached herself from his back, using her sashes to hold him upright. She was shaking. Why was she shaking? Athena was always calm. Always collected.

Finn blinked again, and then it hurt to open his eyes. So he kept them closed. "I can't, can't think. Can't breathe. Can't, can't see."

Multiple voices began swearing. Finn thought he could hear Athena, Crai, and Belle, maybe Nyx. For some reason it was muffled. Funny. The air didn't usually muffle sound.

And then he was being lifted. Gently. Something supported his back as a voice constantly whispered into his ear. "It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay."

But it wasn't okay. He couldn't remember. Couldn't remember what he was talking about. Couldn't remember the name of the female who was whispering to him. Couldn't even remember his own name.

There's a fungus that grows only in full sunlight. Its colors are bland and muted, but it's still a valuable part of the ecosystem. It holds within it the seeds to a species of flower, one that can only bloom in a radically different environment. Yet if you take these mushrooms into the darkness, they begin to let off a brilliant blue light.

Every year, hundreds upon hundreds of paras come from the caves beneath the Toreta region to gather these mushrooms and bring them back underground. Many die in the process, picked off by flying type predators, yet they still do this ritual annually. It's an extremely strange migration, as the mushrooms only die in darkness, yet they plant the seeds of new life every time they do so.

He couldn't help but feel like one of these mushrooms, carried into darkness to die.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So Zekrom's a jerk.**

 **N's not quite the same person he was in the games. But at the same time, he's older here. He's more mature, more experienced. I hope I managed to capture N's personality, but at the same time make sure to show that he's a slightly different person.**

 **As for Finn, well, just reminding you all that he's far from healthy.**

 **Please, leave a review to let me know what you think!**

 **Now read on!**


	36. Interlude: Scholar

"-Which is why gardevoir are capable of creating artificial black holes. Just keep in mind that they are still wells of inescapable gravity, and as such the only time you should create one is never."

"Um. I just wanted to know if there was a book on gardevoir biology."

Carsen blinked. "Oh. Well, there's one in the training section. It should be on the third shelf on the left, second row from the bottom."

"Thank you."

As the trainer walked off, Carsen scratched the back of his head. That was the third time this week he had gone off on a tangent when answering a simple question. He really had to get that under control.

"Geez, this is… irritating," Carsen muttered to himself. "Can't even stay on topic for five minutes."

Shaking his head to himself, Carsen walked up to a random bookshelf and placed his hand on it. Immediately the Library responded, moving the bookcase aside so that he could walk into the chamber beyond. Artifacts from all over the world lined the trail as he walked through the hall. As he neared his personal study, Carsen paused and looked at a particular stand. It held an orb made by Uxie itself, its power to warn of incoming danger.

The orb was pulsating.

"Oh no." Carsen dashed into the study to find the whole thing in disarray. Papers were flying through the air at random. Books were flapping across the room to land on higher perches. As soon as the doors closed behind Carsen, they sealed themselves shut.

Immediately, Carsen dashed over to a crystal orb on one of the tables. After tapping the orb in a specific combination, it cleared and became an image of a humanoid form. The person – and Carsen was fairly sure it was human based off of the shape – was clad head to toe in a black outfit. The helmet that the person wore was mostly darkened glass, but there were various apparatus and symbols embedded into the hardened plastic.

"So? It's just a human with a weird outfit. You can keep that out, right?" Carsen asked.

Then the image shifted, and Carsen had to look away to keep himself from vomiting. It was gruesome. But more importantly, the change in image showed Carsen the psionic emanations that the humanoid gave off. The level of power was absolutely insane. No human or Pokémon known to science could reach that level of psychic power.

But, well, the Library wasn't Pokémon _or_ human. It was stronger. But this creature was strong enough to cause some level of worry.

Then the image shifted again, showing a bulky outline in the shadows. It looked like a person with an oversized backpack, but when the luminous red eyes looked around, Carsen quickly retracted that thought.

"Engange lockdown." Carsen breathed, stepping back from the crystal ball. "Lock down _everything_. Get the people out, tell them the library's closed. Don't unlock the doors for _anyone_."

Carsen took a deep breath as the building rumbled. Things were moving, employees were leaving, and visitors were being ushered out. Stepping away from the crystal ball, Carsen flopped down into a seat to wait out the siege.

The Library was impenetrable when it didn't want to be entered.


	37. Memory

For many, death is the worst fate to encounter.

This is a valid thought. If you die, you are no more. Your influence on the world ends. Truthfully it's a horrible fate to meet, to be dead. Eventually you will be forgotten, and any trace you left will be gone forever. There's nothing that could be done about it.

But a far, far worse fate is to lose your memory. To forget your identity entirely. Because it's another kind of death. You lose yourself. And you never even know that you've died. And then, when your body fails and death claims you, you die a second time.

And an even worse fate is to continually lose your memory. To die every day of your life as you forget yourself day after day. The most tragic part of such a fate is that you will never know what you have forgotten. You could have the most wonderful day of your life, but the very next day it is gone. Forgotten forever.

Truly, it is a fate worse than death.

* * *

He was drifting in darkness.

That in itself would be strange, if the oddity hadn't worn off already. Now he assumed it was normal. It felt normal. Did everyone do this? He didn't know.

But now he could hear voices. They were vaguely familiar, but he didn't know names or faces. Why would he? He didn't know anyone.

"Is he dying?" This voice was worried, and blatantly so in its worry. Why was she worried?

"I'll ask the professor. One second." The tinkly voice paused. "She says… not right now. That… could change."

"What do we care? We could just leave then." This voice was gruff and dismissive. He decided that he didn't like this one.

"Bastion. Stop." And this one was metallic, but feminine. It was strict, but not harsh. He felt as though he knew this one. Who was she?

"Why should I? I'm just speaking the truth."

"Shut up before I shut you up, you little bottomfeeder," The tinkly voice threatened.

"Yeah, as if you would. You're just a gay little- URK!"

"Thank you, Crai." The metallic voice said, sighing.

" _That_ 's no issue. I just wish I could use my abilities to help Finn…"

And he faded back into darkness. Who was Finn? Why did they want to help him? He didn't know. Who were they, anyways? They sounded… familiar. But… he didn't know anyone. The metallic one especially caused him to feel pangs of recognition, but at the same time he couldn't remember anything.

Who was the tinkly voice? It sounded like chimes in the wind, but at the same time like someone talking. The sing-song tune to the voice was also something that he felt should have meant something, but it just… didn't.

The dismissive one, he was mean. He was… cruel.

The first one to speak had been so worried…

But as the darkness surrounded him, he let go of his thoughts. They weren't needed. Nothing was. It was just the darkness. Darkness everywhere.

Sometime later, he wasn't sure when because of the timelessness of the darkness, he began to hear another voice One completely different from the others. It, no, she was soft. Soothing. Loving.

And she was singing.

He didn't know any words, but he did hear her singing. It was beautiful. Ethereal. Haunting. She was so, so sad.

After a while, she cut herself off, and someone else spoke. The tinkly guy. "Belle, what're you doing in here?"

"…Watching him."

"He's stable. Come on, you need to eat."

"You can bring it to me."

"Belle-,"

"I do not ask for much, Crai, but I would like to stay with Finn."

"Alright then…"

And darkness resumed.

The singing had been beautiful, but it was replaced by silence now. Silence and darkness.

He found himself longing to hear the singing again.

Another indefinite period passed, and two more female voices were speaking.

"…What's his machamp doing in here?"

"She won't leave his side. Just let her be."

"Well, Torina. What happened this time?"

"According to his gardevoir, he's been taking his medicine consistently on time. Apparently it's progressing into stage two."

The first woman sighed. "I'm worried about him, Tori."

"I know."

"So tell me, what comes with the second stage?"

"Memory loss, more frequent blackouts, difficulty breathing, and the medicine loses most, if not all, effect. He'll also be in a comatose state for far, far longer, maybe permanently. And all the pigments in the hair lose color, but that one is more of an indicator than a symptom."

"And there's nothing we can do?"

"Nothing…"

And the darkness returned again, blotting out the sound.

Memory loss? Was that why he couldn't remember anything? It would explain that. But who was he? He didn't know. That was terrifying.

"…human forms. His mind might not be ready for something that looks as alien as, well, us."

 _"Wake up."_

A voice echoed through his skull. This wasn't one of the voices he had heard earlier. Not any of them. It was more… ancient. More powerful. More… dark.

"I hope this works, Crai."

 _"For the love of Arceus, don't make me use the Voice."_

It wasn't ringing any bells. What was it saying? Something about a voice? What kind of voice?

"I can sense his mind becoming more active. He should be susceptible soon."

 _"Zekrom's gonna kill me for this. He already hates me._ _ **[**_ _Wake up._ _ **]**_ _"_

He felt his mind rising from the darkness, but he still couldn't see the light. Why was it so dark? Why? It hurt. Everything hurt. Why did it hurt now? It hadn't hurt before, when he was in absolute darkness, but the closer he got to the light, the more it hurt. The more his body told him it was in distress. The more agonizing it was.

It wasn't just physical pain, either. He felt like his heart was going to tear itself apart. His brain hurt.

But after an indefinite period of pain, suddenly he was standing.

It was a simple grassy field. Flowers were all over the place, just simple white daisies. The sky was blue, but there was no sign of the sun or any clouds. A slight breeze blew through, keeping him from growing warm. All things considered, it was preferable to the darkness by a major degree.

"Thank Arceus. I finally managed to make a connection."

He looked around, eventually spotting a young man in a white robe. The young man had green hair and red eyes, but he looked friendly enough. He raised a hand and waved. "Hi."

"Finn, are you okay?" The young man walked forwards, eyes wide.

"Finn?" he shook his head. "Who's Finn? Is that me?"

"Y-you don't remember?" The young man blinked. "You don't remember your name? How about my name. I'm Craitarot."

After a moment of thought, he shook his head. "No. I don't remember anything."

Another person appeared. No fanfare, just appearing out of nothing. She was tall and muscular, but still beautiful. She had blue-grey hair, which wasn't normally a hair color, but she made it look amazing. She stepped forwards, her red eyes concerned. "Finn?"

He found himself blinking. "You're pretty."

The young woman blushed, too flustered to say anything else.

Craitarot looked at her for a moment, then looked back at him. "Do you remember her name? You saved her from being chased and imprisoned."

He shook his head. "No. I don't remember." He paused for a moment. "You said my name was Finn?"

"Yes. Your name is Finnegan Ferris. You're the son of the steel type gym leader and a world famous Pokemon breeder. Your first ever Pokemon was a riolu named Sparks. Your right arm was paralyzed from birth, but it recovered when your honedge – who has since evolved into a doublade – wrapped her sash around your arm." Craitarot was talking faster and faster as he continued. "please, please tell me you remember."

He – he decided his name was actually Finn, if this person was so insistent – shook his head. "I don't remember any of it."

The woman came forwards again. "Finn, do you remember when you fought Cyril? When you raided that Plasma base?" Her voice became quieter. "When you named me?"

"I-I don't…" Finn – if that was actually his name – shook his head again. "I don't know."

"Please, Finn." The woman stepped closer, her eyes damp. "My name is Belle. Does that remind you of anything?"

"Um. I. I. I don't know." Finn scratched the back of his head. Something was wrong. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

Then a third person appeared, an ethereal, ageless woman. Her eyes were purple, with vertical slits as pupils. Her hair was a different shade of purple, and was long and smooth. She was clad in a simple and modest outfit, but her arms were toned and fit. She walked forwards and placed her hands on the sides of Finn's head. "Finn. This is going to hurt."

"What's going to hurt?" Finn asked, confused. Why was she touching him? Who was this woman?

The woman blinked. In a second, her eyes were nothing but gaping holes, windows into a void. "I'm sorry, but we need you back. I need you back."

And then his mind was filled with pain. Agony filled his body. Letting out a scream, Finn threw his head back as memories shot across the inside of his skull.

Athena. Nyx. Jitters. Belle. Bastion. Crai. Adaptability. Wit. Patience. Intellect. Determination. Humility.

All of these words rushed through his brain, leaving streaks of memory as they seared into his consciousness. Memories of victories and defeats. Emotions, love, rage, and pain. Belle's torment as she fought against the ones who made her into who she was. Nyx's elation at flight, carrying him into the sky. Jitters happily nuzzling him after evolution, his twitch gone. Bastion's mad laughter as he jumped around the battlefield, taking more hits than he dealt. Crai, tears running down his face as he confessed his emotions and how they hurt him so.

And Athena. Who had been through everything with him. Who shared his mind. He knew this, because all at once she had given it back to him.

As the pain overwhelmed him, Finn could hear Belle screaming.

* * *

Waking up from a long period of sleep always left a really nasty taste in Finn's mouth.

The comas that he experienced from his condition were no different, really. The only notable thing he could tell was that, after a coma, he had a little bit more difficulty waking up.

Not this time, though. Something about what Athena had done to him led to him being fully awake.

What was it that she had even done?

Finn sat up, looking down at himself. He was on a bed. A vaguely familiar bed. His left leg was in a cast, and a wiggle confirmed that the cast was on extremely tight. His right leg was fine. Covered in scar tissue, but fine. A glance at his right arm, though, was mildly terrifying. The winding honedge sash scar on his forearm was glowing a faint purple. That was _not_ normal.

But it didn't tingle, or anything. His right arm was perfectly fine. Heck, it was more muscular than his left. The rest of his body had atrophied a bit, but his right arm was still in peak physical condition.

Lifting his gaze, Finn looked around the room.

Now he remembered where this was. In fact, he had been here just after he started out. This room was the same room where he had been taken after a blackout. Which meant that he was at Professor Aspen's lab.

Finn's gaze settled on a form that sat slumped in a chair. Belle had pulled the chair across the room to sit as close to the sickbed as possible, and was now slumped over asleep. It was sweet, the way she was concerned for him.

He lay back, closing his eyes. Already the whispers and words from his dreams were fading. He had already forgotten most of it. It didn't seem to matter, anyways.

A rustle of movement caused Finn to open his eyes and glance to the side. Belle was stirring, stretching her arms and blinking her eyes. As she woke up, Finn smiled. "Hi Belle. What'd I miss?"

Immediately Belle was awake and alert. "Finn! You're awake!"

And she was reaching out, lifting him off of the bed and pulling him into an odd cradling hold/hug. Finn chuckled. "I'm fine, but you should probably put me back down."

"Oh, right." Belle gently set him back on the bed. She hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "We were worried about you, Finn. I was worried about you."

"Don't be. If you worry, you'll only suffer," Finn muttered, more to himself than to Belle. Shaking his head, he looked her in the eyes. "Belle, I want you to know that I'm not leaving you until the world is safe."

"And what then…?" Belle whispered.

Before Finn could answer, the door to the room opened and Crai walked in with Athena close behind. Athena's eyes no longer held fragments of purple crystal, but neither did they hold anything else. It was mildly unsettling, looking at the abyssal voids where her eyes used to be.

Athena quickly floated over to him, resting her sashes on his right arm. She didn't have to say anything, because he already knew what she would say. She was using his eyes. She was part of him, and he was part of her. He was gradually becoming more phantasmal, while she became more and more human over time.

Crai, though, did speak. His eyes were wide as he looked at Finn. "Finn, by Arceus. You're awake."

"That I am." Finn nodded.

"I need to get the others." Crai quickly turned and sped off, floating just above the ground.

Just seconds later, Jitters came scuttling into the room via the ceiling. With a bound, he hurtled from the ceiling to land on Finn's bed. Each of his legs was planted to Finn's sides, but he lowered himself so that his head was resting on Finn's chest and immediately started to chitter.

"Hey Jitters. I missed you too, buddy." Finn scratched the back of the spider's head, chuckling softly.

Soon after, Nyx came in the door, moving as fast as she could and carrying Bastion in her arms. The mareanie didn't seem to be happy to be held, which was probably why Nyx quickly set him down and hopped over to Finn. She simply rested a claw on his arm, smiling at him.

Crai returned to the room with Professor Aspen in tow. Aspen gasped when she spotted Finn, walking over to him. "Finn, you're awake!"

"I've heard that rather a lot in the past minute or so," Finn said with a laugh. "I've been asking what I missed, but I haven't gotten any answers."

"Finn, you were out for nearly a month. A whole lot has happened," Aspen replied gravely.

Finn felt his blood grow cold. A month? That was the absolute longest time he had ever been out. It would explain the IV drip in his arm, though, as well as the various other hospital paraphernalia that was set near his bed. "Start from the beginning. How'd I get here?"

"That young man, N, brought you in. He had the help of a massive black dragon, but the dragon flew off as soon as you arrived." Aspen paused. "Finn you were nearly dead."

"I figured as much, felt like I was dying." Finn shook his head. "Continue, please."

"N's dragon carried your machamp as well, and she was the one who carried you in." Aspen shot a thankful glance at Belle, and Finn got the feeling that this had happened more than once. "Craitarot arrived soon after, using his teleportation to bring your doublade with him. The other three didn't arrive until a couple of days later. N stayed with you for a week, acting as an interpreter for your Pokemon when Crai wasn't around, but afterwards he had to leave.

"Your machamp and gardevoir rarely left your side, and your doublade only left the room when I needed her help." Aspen paused again. "Your machamp never left the room. Not once through the whole month."

"I see." Finn glanced at Belle, but she was looking away. He returned his gaze to Aspen. "Did you take a look at my doublade? Her eyes are, well, you can clearly see that they're broken."

"Oh yes, I noticed that. Crai told me what happened to cause that. One of these days I'm going to smack Darrell so hard…" Aspen scowled. "But even though her eyes are broken, she doesn't seem to be blind. She can easily find her way around whenever one of your other Pokémon are around."

"She's blind, alright. She just has other ways of getting around," Finn replied, still mildly confused himself. "Is there anything you can do?"

"Honestly, I didn't know. But I do happen to have an expert on hand, who visited just for you," Aspen answered.

"You do?" Finn asked, having a sneaking suspicion he knew exactly who it was. "And what did they say?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Aspen smiled. She stepped out of the room. "Athena! Finn's awake!"

At that, all of Finn's Pokémon were confused. Crai was the one to voice the question, using his telepathy to ask Aspen as well. _"Um, Athena's in here."_

"No, actually, I was meaning to eventually tell you about that…" Finn chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. "You see…"

"Finnegan, did you name one of your Pokemon after me?" A tall woman walked into the room, her arms crossed. Her hazel eyes locked on Finn.

"Heh, hi Mom…"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Of course Finn's not dead. There's still a story left to tell.**

 **Also, meet Finn's mother. You'll find out more about her next chapter.**

 **As always, please leave a review to let me know what you think!**

 **Now read on!**


	38. Family

Ah family.

People define it differently. Some believe that family is only those who are related by blood. The ones who we are bound to physically, that we will always be connected to whether we like it or not. We may not be anything like them, but they will always be associated with us.

Others define family as those who stand by your side. The ones you can rely upon for help when you really need it. These people make their families from their friends, from their coworkers, and from those that they trust.

Finn had a combination of the two viewpoints. His relatives – of which he only had his parents – were definitely family to him, but Finn also viewed his Pokémon as his family. Together they had been through so much, and the trust they shared was unbreakable.

Finn's mother was the only member of his family that he had seen regularly in the past five years or so. Of course, the last year had been spent wandering around the Toreta region to battle Pokémon gyms. As far as a faithful son went, Finn had been quite neglectful.

"Heh, hi Mom…" Finn muttered, scratching the back of his head. "Um, no, not really."

"I have the same name as your mother, Finn." Athena really wasn't asking a question. She reached out with her sashes again. "When did you intend to let us know?"

"Finn…" His mother reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Alright. What's your technicality?"

"Well, she shares the same name origin as you." Finn took his Pokémon's sashes gently, stroking the soft silk. "You know, named after the goddess of wisdom and strategy. I find that it fits."

"I'm getting too old for your shenanigans, Finnegan." Athena Ferris wasn't a young woman anymore by any means, but she was healthy and fit. Her long grey hair was tied up in a neat bun, befitting her formal suit and strict appearance. Even though her dark eyes seemed harsh, Finn knew full well that it was an act. She did this every time he got himself injured.

"I just thought it fit." Finn shrugged. "I named half of my team after ancient gods. Or rather, goddesses. My gliscor is named Nyx, and my machamp is named Bellona."

"Alright, alright, fine." The elder Ferris shook her head, closing her eyes. "Craitarot told Torina, and Torina told me. I have a question for you." When Finn's mother opened her eyes, she glared directly at Finn. "What the hell possessed you to do any of this?!"

"Define 'this', please."

"Where do I begin? Leaving home without telling me face-to-face, nearly _dying_ to your first Pokémon, leaving Vernac before I could get there, going to _Geistom_ of all places-," Finn's mother took a breath. "What were you thinking?"

"Well… I will admit that leaving home and only leaving a note was, um, kinda stupid." Finn chuckled nervously. "It's not Athena's fault I nearly died, though. It was an accident. As for leaving before you got there…" Finn looked up at his mother. "Would you have let me continue on my journey after I had an episode like that?"

"No, and you shouldn't have gone on anyways!"

"Yes, I should have." Finn sighed. "And what do you have against Geistom? Yes it's a weird place, but they're nice people."

"Have you met the gym leader?" Finn's mother asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yes?" Finn wasn't sure where she was going with this. "He's a religious fanatic, but he's also very accepting and reasonable. What's the issue you have with him?"

"He's a Plasma."

Finn's eyes widened. "No."

"He's the oldest of the Numer siblings. We don't know much about the middle child, but his youngest sister is Trinity, who we are certain is a Plasma." Finn's mother held up a finger to stall his question. "And both of them vanished, with certain people close to them having gone missing. Terrance was last seen sauntering into the gym over a month ago, and the revenant, Reaves, was found lifeless in Mono's office." Athena Ferris ran her fingers through her hair, letting out a sigh. "And that's not even the last of it. Ada and Heather have gone missing, and nobody can get into the Library in Skolar, so we don't know if Carsen is even still there. I've warned Lorenzo and Dracul, but there's only so much we can do to prepare ourselves for what's coming."

"Oh Arceus." Finn sat there, eyes wide. "Someone needs to stop team Plasma. Someone needs to do something. _I_ need to do something." Finn started to push himself up and out of bed, only for four hands, a pair of sashes, and psionic force to all push him back down.

"You aren't going anywhere young man," Finn's mother ordered. "You've got a broken leg from your little traipse into a cave-in, and your condition is getting _worse_."

That gave Finn pause. "Worse how?"

"It's stage two, Finn," Athena Ferris took a deep breath. "And you've only got about six months before it becomes stage three."

 _"What happens when Finn's condition becomes stage three, exactly?"_ Crai asked, his red gaze shooting back and forth between Finn and his mother.

"It's not for me to say," Athena Ferris said, shaking her head.

 _"I understand_." Crai nodded, only to mutter aloud. "Mind like a fortress…"

"Then all the more reason for me to get going _now_ ," Finn protested, pushing himself up once more.

Finn's mother sighed. "You know, I knew you'd keep protesting. You do realize that you have another three weeks or so before you're supposed to be walking on your broken leg, right?"

"Thank you for a more specific time frame. I have crutches." Finn was now sitting upright and swung his legs off of the bed.

"Well, you never were very good at arts and crafts. That's why we got you actual crutches." Finn's mother gestured to one corner, where a pair of metal crutches were leaning against the wall.

"I made those!" Finn protested.

"I can tell. They're only good for if you're in the middle of nowhere." Athena Ferris shook her head.

"Can't really argue with that, actually." Finn shrugged. "Crai, could you get my crutches for me?"

 _"Of course."_ The gardevoir extended one hand, and the crutches flew across the room to Finn. They stopped just a couple of inches away, allowing Finn to reach out and take them.

Finn experimentally planted the crutches against the ground and pushed down, putting his weight on the supports. After a moment he pushed off of the bed and tucked the crutches under his shoulders, finding that they worked perfectly. "Thanks, Mom."

"I figured you wouldn't let a broken leg stop you, considering that you managed to get through the History tunnels with it," Athena Ferris replied, a small smile appearing on her face. "But I doubt you'd even have much difficulty with your Pokémon by your side. If I was looking for a team, I'd envy you. All of your Pokemon are extraordinarily loyal." Her smile turned to a scowl as she glanced down at Bastion. "Except that one. Why'd you have to catch a mareanie? They're foul-tempered little bastards."

"Hey! Watch your tongue lady, before I rip it out!" Bastion growled, bunching up his tentacles.

"I'll be honest, that was an accident. He's mine, though. He's part of the family." Finn shrugged. "Bastion has proven that he's good, at least in battle. Outside of battle… he's a bit of a jerk."

"Excuse me?" Bastion muttered, scowling.

"Sorry, I meant a lot of a jerk," Finn corrected himself.

"Much better." Bastion's scowl turned into a triumphant grin, his yellow eyes glinting oddly.

Finn just gave the diminutive creature a look, trying to figure out what was going on in the mareanie's head. Bastion confused him. Shaking his head, Finn looked back up at his mother. "Did you hear about me understanding my Pokémon?"

"Absolutely. Torina told me." Finn's mother glanced back out at the hallway. "Seven Pokémon that are inextricably linked to you. I had Xollen, Clarent, and Kasparov all looked at you, and though they could distinguish a unique link between you and your Pokemon, they couldn't figure it out at all. Xollen said that your mind is in your doublade's body, Clarent tried to mold your soul into an easier to scan form only to find it unmovable, and Kasparov took one look and decided that you were beyond saving."

"Well, Kas is a bisharp. They're known to be harsh." Finn shrugged.

"Yes, but he knows you. He's known you for years. Even Clarent warmed up to you after three years." Athena Ferris ran her hand through her hair again. "Kasparov didn't recognize you. Xollen and Clarent did, but Kasparov didn't. He was looking through you, or something. He called you an abomination."

"Zekrom called me an abomination too." Finn closed his eyes and tilted his head back, trying to think. "I think it was because of my aura, or something. I don't know. I'm not an auric."

"Well, neither am I. Your father knows more about that, but Arceus knows where _he_ is right now." Finn's mother sighed. "I do, however, understand psionics. How is it that your doublade has a sizable chunk of your memories? And for that matter, what happened to her?"

"I don't know why Athena has my memories. I really don't." Finn opened his eyes, looking at Athena. "And, well, Darrell happened to her. His probopass used earth power to smash her eyes out."

"That would explain how it happened. The gemstones that make up a doublade's eyes are just about indestructible, though certain Pokémon are strong enough to do it. Probopass is one."

"So how can we get her healed?" Finn set his crutches and tucked them under his arms. His hands freed, Finn reached out with his right arm, and Athena wrapped her sashes around his scarred limb.

"As far as I know, there are two ways. The first is evolution, as evolution fixes a lot of issues. Inherent genetic disorders, broken bones, and many diseases are all healed by evolution. But I don't know for sure if it'll help with this." Finn's mother paused, thinking. "The other option is to make new eyes, but for that you need a phantasmal gemstone, like a dusk stone or a ghostly elemental-charged crystal. They're hard to find, but they're some of the few things that work."

"I think I have one of those, actually. Where's my bag?" Finn looked around the room.

"I'll get it!" Nyx quickly hopped out of the room, slipping past Finn's mother. After a moment she returned with the bag in her arms. Smiling to herself, she proudly extended her arms to Finn. "Here you go!"

"Thank you, Nyx." Finn grabbed the bag strap and set the bag on the bed next to him. He reached his right hand into the main pocket and concentrated, tapping in to the nerve sensor in the bag. After a second, he felt something materialize in the palm of his hand, only to hiss and drop it as a jolt shot up his arm.

"What happened?" His mother asked, stepping forwards.

"I don't… know." Finn looked at his right arm. The scar from Athena's sash was pulsing violently, and a tingling sensation ran up and down his arm. "Didn't hurt, just… surprised me."

Shrugging, Finn turned and reached into the bag with his left hand, pulling out the faintly translucent purple crystal he had bought at the market fair in Vernac. Once it was in the light, his mother gasped. "Finn, do you know what that is?"

"Not a clue. I bought it thinking it was a dusk stone, but it didn't make Athena evolve when she touched it. She said she felt odd, but nothing else happened." Finn paused, furrowing his brow. "Why?"

"You're right, it isn't a dusk stone." Finn's mother stepped even closer, reaching out to request the crystal. After a moment, Finn shrugged and handed it over. Taking a closer look, his mother nodded. "Yes, this is something far harder to find. A rare gemstone usually only mined in Alola: ghostium. It's far better for making the eyes we need, mostly because it's nontransformative. It makes a Pokemon able to unleash their inner spiritual power. I'm no real expert, but I do know that this will be a far better material for a functional pair of doublade eyes than most native gemstones."

"It won't have any odd effects?" Finn asked.

"Maybe. Less than a dusk stone would, that much I'm sure of." Athena Ferris examined the stone. "Do you mind if I take this with me back to Bluebell? I'll have it carved into shape by the time you get to the gym."

"Thanks, Mom." Finn hesitated. "And I'm sorry."

"I just… I worry about you, Finn." His mother hesitated. "I know I'm harsh, but it's to keep you safe."

"I understand." Finn nodded.

"You always do, Finn." Athena Ferris smiled. "You always do."

And then she was walking off, leaving the room with long strides. Silence reigned for a few moments, then Bastion spoke, "Good riddance, I say."

"Bastion," Finn warned.

"I mean, did you listen to her? She didn't do anything but scold Finn. Geez, who does she think she is?" Bastion ranted.

"She's my mother, and she has plenty of authority to tell me off," Finn said quietly and coldly, glaring at the mareanie. "Now shut up."

"I mean-," Bastion continued obliviously.

"Bastion, shut the hell up," Crai growled, his eyes lighting up with blue energy as the mareanie lifted off the ground from the psionic assault.

"Like you're gonna do anything, you twinky little dress-wearing-,"

"Do you want me to tear you apart?" Crai snarled, his face twisting into a vicious scowl. "I will _kill_ you if you don't shut the hell up."

"I'd like to see you try." Bastion's face contorted into a wicked grin.

"Both of you stop," Finn interjected, taking a deep breath. "Crai, don't kill him, please. Bastion, either shut up or I will put you in a ball and only release you for battles. Understand?"

"Fine," Bastion grumbled, his grin vanishing.

"Alright." Finn took another deep breath, closing his eyes. "Let's just go outside and calm down."

"I second this decision. Tensions are too high," Athena spoke, floating around Finn to rest behind him. She didn't have her sheath mount, he noticed. What had happened to it?

Then he was answered by a thought rising from the depths of his mind. _It wasn't necessary anymore_.

Finn grabbed his crutches and began to shuffle towards the door. A quick glance around the room told him that Belle was rising from her seat, Crai was gliding across the floor towards him, and Nyx and Jitters were following close behind. He really wasn't worried about Bastion coming along; the mareanie would probably be happier to be on his own.

With five Pokemon in tow, Finn hobbled his way through the building. He made his way for the back of the building, heading to the large enclosure that he knew was there.

A wall-hanging mirror caught his attention for a moment, and Finn was shocked to see his reflection. The face that stared back at him was sickly and weathered. An unruly mane of black hair covered the top of his head, a dusting of grey clearly visible. His hazel eyes were sunken in their sockets, the skin of his face pulled taut against the bone. He looked like death.

But worrying about his appearance wouldn't get him anywhere, so Finn turned away from the mirror and continued on outside. He might be in horrible condition, but he would get better. He always recovered.

Finn paused at the door, not quite sure how to open it. He didn't have to, though, because the door opened for him, and Professor Aspen almost walked straight into him. She quickly stepped back, her eyes widening. "Finn, what are you doing out of bed?!"

"I'm going outside," Finn replied tiredly.

"You can't do that, you need to stay in bed to recover-," Aspen argued.

"I haven't seen the sun in a month," Finn interrupted. "And I want to see Harvest."

"But-,"

"I'll stay another night." Finn sighed. "Just… please."

Aspen looked at him for a minute, then sighed as well. "Alright. Just… don't stress yourself."

With that, Aspen stepped aside and held the door open for Finn and his Pokémon. Finn stepped past and gave her a grateful glance, hobbling outside.

A surprisingly large field spread out in front of Finn, separated at points by fences and gates. And the fences were necessary, too. Pokémon of all varieties made residence in this field, divided by predator-prey relationships and rival species. Finn knew full well how to tell which Pokémon lived where; he had done his research long ago. With this knowledge in mind, Finn hobbled his way towards where the predatory bug types made their home.

The short walk over was well worth it for the scene that Finn saw.

A stilted and warped bipedal creature stumbled across the grassy field towards a towering drapion. Its three-fingered hands held a purple corpse, the body of a wild rattata. With its stumbling and unsteady movements, it appeared that the sickly creature was about to fall over at any moment. But instead, it maintained its upright stance despite its odd feet.

As the leaf-clothed creature approached the massive purple scorpion, it hesitated, then continued. When the drapion turned its head to look at the biped, the leaf-covered bug type hesitated again.

Then, with trembling arms, the bipedal bug type extended its arms in offering.

Both of the bugs were motionless for several moments.

Then the drapion accepted the rattata with its claws, sniffing the corpse. It crooned, an odd sound to hear from the huge dark type, and leaned over to rub its head against the twisted bug type's torso.

Harvest returned the drapion's affections, chirring happily as he nuzzled the larger creature.

Finn just smiled as he looked on. Harvest appeared to be recovering quite well from his ordeal, readjusting to life.

After a while, Harvest disengaged from the drapion. The hybrid had noticed Finn, and quickly chittered to the drapion. Harvest ran across the field with deceptive speed, his stunted stride giving him an astonishing ability to traverse ground. With a leap, the hybrid hurtled over the fence and wrapped his arms around Finn. "Fiiiiinnn."

"Hi Harvest." Finn smiled, planting one of his crutches and wrapping his arm around Harvest.

It was an amazing time. Finn felt his worries fade. Harvest was here, all of his Pokemon were here, and they were all happy.

All but one, the water type who was looking on from a distance.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So Finn's first Pokemon shares her name with his mother. As explained here, they both have the same name origin.**

 **Since I already explained where the name Athena comes from, I'll explain the family name instead. Ferris is a corruption of the word ferrous, as in ferrous metals like iron and steel.**

 **And the mysterious stone that Finn bought in Vernac is revealed to be ghostium Z! He doesn't have a Z ring, though, so no Z moves here.**

 **That's all for this time. Review to let me know what you think!**

 **Now read on!**


	39. Bluebell City

They say that you can't go home.

Now, I've written about this before. Can't cross the same river twice, yada yada. You are constantly changing, becoming someone else. You get the idea. I don't need to repeat it.

No, instead I'm going to debunk it.

Unless your hometown has been wiped off the map, or your planet has been destroyed, guess what? You can probably go home. If you're dead, then you can't, but then you won't care. Even if you've been imprisoned for all eternity, there's always a slight chance that you can escape and, in fact, return to where you've gone home.

And heck, even if your home _has_ been obliterated you can make a new home. You can find a new place to belong, a new place to call your own. As long as you've survived, you can make a new home and return to it. So you can still go home.

The one and only time you can't go home is when you physically are incapable of returning home through any method.

I apologize for breaking the formal tone, though. I'll get back to normal in a bit.

* * *

"Don't forget to take your new medicine."

"Yes Professor."

"And don't exert yourself too hard, or it could cause you to black out more often."

"Yes Professor."

"And don't-,"

"Professor Aspen," Finn interrupted. He smiled wistfully. "I know."

"Just…" Professor Aspen took a deep breath and let it out. "Stay safe."

"I'll do my best." Finn glanced at Crai and Belle. "And I don't think I'll have too many problems with those two watching over me."

 _"I heard that,"_ Crai said, turning his gaze to look at Finn and Aspen. _"I'd I would like to say that Finn will probably be protecting me."_

"Why do you say that?" Finn asked, furrowing his brow.

 _"Just a hunch…"_ Crai trailed off, turning away.

"Well…" Aspen sighed. "Goodbye, Finn."

"I'll see you after I defeat the Pokémon League." Finn smiled and turned to set off, hobbling along on his crutches.

After he went a fair distance along the trail, Finn turned and looked back at the lab. Aspen was waving, a concerned look on her face. Finn planted his right crutch and waved back for a moment before turning away once more and hobbling along the trail.

He was back on this trail for the first time in over a year. It almost felt like yesterday, really. He could remember traveling up and down this road, heading out with hope that he could finally obtain his first Pokémon, and returning home with a bag of supplies for his mother and a heap of disappointment. It felt like only yesterday that he was caught in a thunderstorm, spurred by his conscience to rescue a honedge stuck in the mud. It felt like only yesterday that he had been assaulted by a mismagius, one that had hated him for years.

In fact, where was the mismagius? It had harassed him every week without fail for four years straight, before it had evolved. Now it was missing entirely. Maybe it was scared off by his Pokémon? Belle did give off an aura of strength, and with the evil eye he was shooting at everything Bastion was intimidating in his own right.

As for the silence in the air, well, that was normal. Rarely were there any bird Pokémon around when Finn traveled through an area, and even the bug types went silent as he passed. Ordinarily there wasn't even anyone on the road, either. But still, it was more empty than normal. Like a normal presence was absent. No eyes on him, hating his very being.

Nearly halfway to the city, Finn was astonished to see a trio of ten-year-olds running up the trail towards him. They were cheering, joking with one another. The seeming leader was laughing and chatting with the other boy in the group, the girl occasionally butting in with a comment. The trio suddenly grew quiet as they caught sight of Finn and his Pokémon.

The kids lowered their gazes, scooting over to the side of the road to avoid Finn. One of the boys looked up quickly to stare at Nyx for a moment, while the other one glanced at Belle in confusion at her appearance before both of them turned their gazes downwards once more. The girl gazed at Crai in admiration for a lingering few seconds, and then the kids were past, continuing on as if Finn and his Pokémon hadn't been there at all.

Finn just looked, somewhat stunned. He felt old. He was only barely past fifteen and a half, but he felt old. Felt weathered and worn. So much pain and experience in only a year and a half. And it wasn't even over yet.

But he could deal with pain. He could press through. There was always something better on the other side of the pain. Maybe not now. Maybe not soon. But eventually.

So Finn continued onwards to Bluebell City. To home. When he got there, his mother would have the new eyes for Athena. When he got there, he would be able to earn his seventh gym badge. And after that, Rath would reveal everything.

Finn blinked. He felt so tired. That was probably normal, though. He'd had lethargic episodes before, and now that his disease was in stage two, well, that was only going to be worse and far more common. His hair was already graying, something he had known would happen in the later stages. Hopefully he could avoid some of the worse symptoms, like the memory loss and comas. Some of the symptoms were inevitable, though. Weakness, lethargy, and migraines would all plague him for the next six months.

On the bright side, he had recovered. He wasn't comatose now. Finn could push through.

Finn and his Pokémon entered the city less than half an hour after leaving Aspen's lab. It really showed how Finn had changed through his journey. Despite being stuck on crutches, Finn was still able to make faster time between the lab and the city. Although in all likelihood, it was because he wasn't going in circles. Where _was_ that mismagius?

"Welcome to Bluebell City. Capital of Toreta and the largest city in the region," Finn announced, a smile growing on his face. "Never thought I'd be happy to be here, honestly. I'd always wanted to leave and see the world. Plus, well, I've been mugged more than once."

"Why? Who would do such a thing?" Nyx asked, eyes wide.

"Too many people. Honestly, I think I was just the easiest target. Paralyzed arm, not particularly big, strong, or fast, well-known to have a lot of money; plenty of reasons to mug me." Finn shrugged, continuing on through the street. "They wouldn't be able to mug me now, but honestly holding a grudge wouldn't get anything done."

"You're a very forgiving person, you know that?" Bastion shot Finn a sideways glance. "A lot of people would take advantage of a person like you."

"I found that out the hard way, Bastion." Finn shrugged again. "I already told you about how much grief Team Plasma has given me."

"And I still can't believe you were that stupid," Bastion said.

"I learned. I got burned and learned how to avoid the acid," Finn replied. He quickly shot a glance at Bastion, noting the doubt in his face. "Well, I did. I messed up. I won't mess up again."

"Yeah." Bastion seemed mildly uncomfortable for a moment. "Um. Right."

The mareanie turned away, frowning. There was something up with him. Finn couldn't place it, but Bastion was not okay.

Finn and his Pokémon proceeded in silence from there. Nobody really had anything to say. There were several moments when Finn thought Crai was about to say something, but the gardevoir never spoke up. And Finn thought he could see why.

People would give glances and curious looks at Finn and his group. He could see the light of recognition in more than a few eyes, people who he half-remembered seeing once or twice. There were surely a few people in the crowd who had heard of him, or had seen him from a distance. Of course, his Pokémon alone were more than enough to warrant attention. A machamp wasn't an uncommon sight, but Belle wasn't a normal machamp. Gliscor were rarely seen in the forests around Bluebell, and a diurnal one was even less common.

But Crai was the one to get the most attention. It wasn't exactly like gardevoir were particularly rare, yet Crai seemed to be a magnet for gazes. For the most part, it was just someone giving him an odd look, most likely due to his altered shape. But every now and then, there was an oddball who would look at Crai with an expression that Finn hadn't seen before. But he could tell, instinctively, that it was lust. People were looking at Crai with lust. Finn almost wanted to throw up.

It started to come to a head when a man they were passing gave a nudge to his gallade, and the blade-armed Pokémon walked up to Crai, placing its hand on Crai's shoulder. The gallade spoke, its voice high but strong. Finn didn't understand a word of its fairy language, but he did understand Crai perfectly when the gardevoir shouted. "Fuck off! I'm _male_!"

A small pulse of psychic energy pushed the gallade back, but the repulsed look on the gallade's face was evidence that it wanted nothing more to do with Crai. The gallade shot a glance at Finn, sending a brief telepathic message. _"What kind of trainer has a freak like this?"_

And then the gallade was retreating, because Crai was screaming at the top of his lungs, releasing a pulse of psychic energy that was beyond words or understanding. The wordless scream caused the gallade to cringe away in fear and pain. Barely instants after Crai started screaming, Finn dropped his crutches and lunged forwards on his working leg, wrapping his arms around Crai.

Using his body to intercept most of the psychic scream, Finn hugged the frail fairy type tightly. So much pain radiated off of Crai mixed with rage. The rage quickly melted away, and Crai seemed to realize what he was doing, devolving into sobs on the side of the street.

Finn looked up at Belle. "Help us to the alley, then give us a little privacy."

Belle nodded, stepping forwards to pick both human and gardevoir up and carry them to a nearby alleyway. Bastion and Nyx just looked on, both of them with wide eyes as Jitters began to nudge them away. Athena quickly disengaged from Finn's back and floated over to Belle, using the machamp to steady herself. Belle quickly deposited Finn and Crai against the wall before walking out of the alley.

Finn cradled the sobbing gardevoir in his arms, gently rocking Crai as he let his tears flow. "It's okay. It's okay."

"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry," Crai sobbed, burying his face in Finn's shoulder. "I-I-I-I didn't-didn't mean to. I-I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You didn't mean to," Finn murmured. "He was wrong. He's stupid."

"Th-they think- they th-think th-that g-gardevoir can o-only be f-female." Crai swallowed, taking a shuddering breath. "Ev-every s-single one. Some-some of the _humans_ w-wanted to-,"

"People are stupid. They don't think." Finn said. Crai was so frail. So fragile. "They see gallade and think that since they're all male, that gardevoir are the females. They're wrong."

"Y-you- he- it- he w-wanted to _b-breed_ me," Crai whispered, "The gallade th-thought I w-was f-female."

Finn knew that the gallade had done _something_ to piss Crai off, but that was horrible. "Crai. I'm so, so sorry."

"A-and all th-that anyone sees is a-a frail female, and it h-hurts." Crai pulled back just enough to look at Finn. "I-it hurts so much."

"I'm sorry, Crai," Finn said honestly, "There's, there's just nothing I can do. I can't, can't do anything."

"I-I know. I know. It- it hurts," Crai mumbled.

"It's going to hurt, Crai," Finn said, "I won't lie. It wouldn't help. You're going to see so, so many people who will do exactly this, because people are messed up, and we don't learn. But I will tell you that, no matter what, I am going to be right here. Until the day I die, I promise, I won't let anyone do anything so awful to you."

"Thank you, Finn. I – Arceus, I'm so weak," Crai let out a pitiful giggle. So much self-loathing floated on that giggle, so much hate. "I'm so dependent on you. Any other trainer and I'd be even more useless."

"Crai, you are not useless," Finn said sternly, reaching up and cupping the gardevoir's cheek. "You're intelligent, skilled, and able to do things that nobody else can. You can bend reality to your will!" Finn paused and took a breath. "You're not weak. You're hurt. You're emotionally wounded, and it's not your fault."

"A gardevoir that's emotionally unstable." Crai giggled again. "I sound like a wreck." The gardevoir took a deep breath and let it out. "Thank you Finn."

Finn held the fragile fairy closer. "That's what I'm here for." After a moment, Finn let go. "We need to get back to the others. I, uh, can't exactly walk on my own."

"Right, right." Crai pulled away and rose to his feet, taking another steadying breath. He reached down to Finn, pulling him up to his good leg with his psychic power. "Let's go."

Crai was still shaky and frail, but his psychic powers were at least good enough to help Finn stand. Finn was careful not to lean too heavily on Crai; the gardevoir was not mentally or physically capable of being strong right now. So in the guise of letting Crai hold him up, Finn supported the gardevoir.

Together they made their way out of the alley. Belle was standing there, Finn's crutches in her hands. She might've heard some of it, but she wasn't speaking. Finn gladly took his crutches. "I think I'll lean on Crai a bit more. I'm still not quite sure on my feet."

A small pulse of gratitude from the gardevoir was the only warning Finn had before Crai leaned heavily against him. The gardevoir was lighter than he looked, likely because of his fairy properties. Finn didn't bother to dwell on it.

A flicker of purple and pink at the street corner caught Finn's eye.

Finn looked around for a moment to try and spot his Pokémon, but Bastion, Jitters, and Nyx were missing. Athena was still hanging on Belle's back, relying upon the machamp to guide her when she couldn't borrow Finn's eyes. The other three could probably take care of themselves, though. The worst case scenario was Bastion causing trouble, but Nyx would probably make him behave.

So, with Crai leaning heavily against him and Belle following, Finn slowly made his way forwards. That shade of purple was something one usually only saw on ghost-type Pokémon. It was entirely possible that it had been someone wearing purple, but Finn had a feeling that it… wasn't.

When Finn eventually reached the street corner and looked, his suspicions were confirmed. It was indeed a ghost-type. And not just any ghost type, but a mismagius.

The creature's yellow eyes widened as it caught sight of Finn, and its small face twisted into a visage of hatred. The mismagius began to tug at nearby shadows, twisting them into illusory monsters and demons. Its tiny form twisted and contorted, changing into a horrifying creature with far too many eyes.

And then Crai pulled himself up and stepped forwards, distracting the mismagius from its illusions. The monsters shrank back into the shadows, and the mismagius returned to its normal form. It was like a switch had flipped, and the mismagius floated over to Crai, circling around him curiously. The ghost-type let out a croon, floating into Crai's personal space and extending the ribbons at its skirt like hands.

Crai eyed the mismagius warily. "What do you-,"

The mismagius hushed him, leaning closer and tilting its head. It seemed curious.

"Look, I don't much like anyone who tries to hurt Finn." Crai crossed his arms, trying and failing to seem strong.

The mismagius spoke in an odd wispy voice, its meaning and words incomprehensible to Finn.

"What has he-, he's done everything for me!" Crai said, blinking in surprise. "Finn's a good person."

In response, the mismagius opened and closed its mouth in a mocking manner before floating towards Finn suddenly. Its approach was so sudden that Finn recoiled, leaning away. Crimson eyes stared into his hazel, cold and analyzing. Then those crimson eyes widened in surprise.

"Hecate! Where'd you get to?"

At the sound of the yell, the mismagius perked up and backed away. It happily floated away to a young man across the street, who reached up to grab the ghost-type and pull it down to his level. "Stop pestering people, Hecate. Not everyone is fine with thinking you've dropped a pie on their head."

The mismagius, Hecate, giggled. It slipped out of the young man's grasp and floated around his head before floating back over to Crai to drape its ribbon-arms over his shoulder. Crai stood there, stunned in confusion. "What do you want from me?!"

The young man across the street approached, chuckling. Finn felt he was familiar, but he just couldn't place the face. Mousy brown hair, a friendly grin, and green eyes all screamed that he had seen them before, but the young man's height and fairly broad frame were unfamiliar. "Hey there, sir. Sorry about Heca- wait a minute. Finn?"

Finn furrowed his brow. Wait a minute. Friendly demeanor, a Pokémon named after a god… "Anthony? Is that you?"

"I never expected to see you here, Finn," Anthony said, only to pause and think, "Although that's probably because I didn't think about it. You here to challenge the gym?"

"That, and to visit home," Finn replied. He glanced up at Hecate, who was floating above their heads and juggling glowing purple orbs. "Where did you catch that mismagius? You didn't have it last time we met, and it seems awfully powerful. It was calling up some extremely realistic illusions."

"Hecate's a new addition, but catching her was, heh, rather eventful…"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm back.**

 **So, this chapter has the minor purpose of stating a message that I wish I could pound into some people's skulls: Gardevoir can be male and female. You'd think it wouldn't be so hard to process, but for some reason there are people who don't even stop to consider that gardevoir has been around since Gen 3, and gallade is Gen 4. It makes me mad.**

 **Because I know it seems somewhat like an overreaction, allow me to explain Crai's situation. Imagine that everyone you meet thinks that you're a member of the opposite sex, all because of some minor reason that you can't really alter. Now imagine that you can hear people commenting this every time you pass them. It'd get annoying pretty fast. Now imagine that some random person of the same sex as you just walks up to you, places their hand on your shoulder, and says with absolute confidence that you're going to bear their offspring. Then when you react negatively, they act like it's your fault because you exist. That's about how bad it is.**

 **But that's enough of my overexplanation, on to the name origins.**

 **Bluebell City is named after the flower, in typical Pokemon fashion.**

 **Hecate is the name of the Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, nighttime, the moon, ghosts, and necromancy. A fitting name for a ghost type known for using magic/magic-like abilities.**

 **As always, leave a review to let me know what you think.**

 **Now read on!**


End file.
